- 


ECCE  FEMINA 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  SOLVE 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION. 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  ARGUMENTS   IN   FAVOR   OF   FEMALE 

SUFFRAGE  BY  JOHN  STUART  MILL  AND   OTHERS,  AND 

A  PRESENTATION    OF  ARGUMENTS    AGAINST 

THE    PROPOSED    CHANGE   IN   THE 

CONSTITUTION  OF  SOCIETY. 


BY    CARLOS  XWHITE. 


HANOVER,  N.H. : 

PUBLISHED    BY    THE    AUTHOR. 
BOSTON:  LEE  &  SHEPARD. 

1870. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 
CARLOS    WHITE, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massa 
chusetts. 


BOSTON : 
Stereotyped  and  Printed  by  Rand,  Avery,  &  Frye. 


[  \    (N? 


50) 


W 


WE  of  the  "  softer  "  sex,  though  not  by  any  means  really  so 
soft  as  we  are  complimented  and  coaxed  into  appearing, 
have  no  call,  and  mostly  no  desire,  to  force  ourselves  into 
the  province  of  men.  We  feel  that  we  are  not  fitted  for  it. 
Female  doctors  (though  all  honor  be  to  those  heroic,  self- 
sacrificing  women  who  are  capable  of  undertaking  such  a 
profession),  female  missionaries,  travellers,  and  life-long  dev 
otees  to  science,  art,  or  philanthropy,  are,  and  always  will 
be,  rare  and  peculiar  cases,  not  to  be  judged  by  ordinary  rules. 
The  average  number -of  us  are  content  to  leave  to  men  their 
own  proper  place ;  but  none  the  less  resolutely  ought  we  to 
keep  our  own,  one  of  the  first  "  rights  "  of  which  is,  the 
supreme  rule  of  all  domestic  concerns.  — Miss  Muloch. 

Equally  blasphemous,  and  perhaps  even  more  harmful,  is 
the  outcry  about  "  the  equality  of  the  sexes,"  —  the  frantic 
attempt  to  force  women,  many  of  whom  are  either  ignorant 
of,  or  unequal  for,  their  own  duties,  into  the  position  and 
duties  of  men.  —  The  same. 

The  difference  between  man's  vocation  and  woman's  seems 
naturally  to  be  this,  —  one  is  abroad,  the  other  at  home ;  one 
external,  the  other  internal ;  one  active,  the  other  passive. 
He  has  to  go  and  seek  out  his  path ;  hers  usually  lies  close 
under  her  feet.  Yet  each  is  as  distinct,  as  honorable,  as 
difficult ;  and,  whatever  custom  may  urge  to  the  contrary,  if  the 
life  is  meant  to  be  a  worthy  or  a  happy  one,  each  must  resolute 
ly  and  unshrinkingly  be  trod.  —  The  same. 

3 

437 


As  for  the  evil  you  complain  of,  impute  it  to  that  imperfect 
education  which  at  once  cultivates  and  enslaves  the  intellect, 
and  loads  the  memory  while  it  fetters  the  judgment. 
Women,  however  well  read  in  history,  never  generalize  in 
politics;  never  argue  on  any  broad  or  general  principle; 
never  reason,  from  a  consideration  of  past  events,  their  causes 
and  consequences.  But  they  are  always  political  through 
their  affections,  their  prejudices,  their  personal  liaisons,  their 

hopes,  their  fears Hence  it  is   that  we  make 

such  blind  partizans,  such  violent  party-women,  and  such 
wretched  politicians.  I  never  heard  a  woman  talk  politics,  as 
it  is  termed,  that  I  could  not  discern  at  once  the  motive,  the 
affection,  the  secret  bias,  which  swayed  her  opinions  and  in 
spired  her  arguments.  If  it  appeared  to  the  Grecian  sage 
so  "  difficult  for  a  man  not  to  love  himself,  nor  the  things 
that  belong  to  him,  but  justice  only,"  how  much  more  for  a 
woman  !  —  Mrs.  Jameson. 


It  is  an  unfortunate  feature  of  some,  who,  with  the  best  of 
motives,  are  laboring  to  relieve  the  burdens  of  their  sex, 
that  they  assume  that  the  fault  rests  with  men,  as  if  they 
were  in  antagonism  with  woman's  interests  and  rights.  But, 
in  all  Christian  countries,  men  are  trained  to  a  tender  care  of 
wives,  mothers,  and  sisters ;  and  a  chivalrous  impulse 
to  protect  and  provide  for  helpless  womanhood  is  often 
stronger  in  men  that  in  most  women  who  have  had  no  such 
training It  is  certain  that  all  jxist  and  benevo 
lent  men  feel  the  wrongs  and  disabilities  of  womanhood  as 
much  as  most  women  do,  and  have  been  as  much  perplexed 
in  seeking  the  most  effective  remedy.  —  Catherine  E,  Beecher. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
INTRODUCTION 7 

CHAPTER  H. 
THE  SEXES  COMPARED    .  .......    80 


CHAPTER   m. 
THE  FAMILY  


CHAPTER   IV. 
THE  PRINCIPLE  INVOLVED  IN  POPULAR  SUFFRAGE   .       .       .120 

CHAPTER    V. 
SHOULD  WOMEN  VOTE,  AND  HOLD  OFFICE        .       .       .       .133 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE 177 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VII.                                   PAGE. 
WOMAN'S  SPHERE 195 

CHAPTER    VIH. 
MISCELLANEOUS  243 


ECCE    FEMINA. 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 

HE  world  moves.  No  one  can 
doubt  it,  who  lives  in  the  United 
States.  But  it  is  neither  strange 
nor  wonderful  that  a  nation  which 
came  into  existence  in  defiance  of  the  customs 
and  regulations  which  have  ruled  the  rest  of 

O 

the  world,  should  be  teeming  with  new  ideas  of 
government,  and  agitated  by  theories  that  have 
never  been  thought  of  before.  Yet  England, 
though  staid  and  sober,  has  been  obliged  to 
yield,  to  the  demands  for  innovation  ;  and  her 
hereditary  aristocracy  seem  to  fear  lest  the  very 
foundations  of  society  may  be  destroyed. 
France,  the  nursery  of  enthusiasm,  burst  the 
bonds  which  had  held  her  for  centuries,  but 
lost  a  great  part  of  the  truth  she  contended  for, 


8  ECCE  FEMINA. 

because  she  coupled  it  with  error  and  falsehood. 
The  French  people  rashly  thought  that  liberty 
meant  the  destruction  of  all  that  had  previously 
existed.  They  imagined  that  the  laws  of  God 
were  to  be  repealed,  and  supposed  that  every 
man  might  do  what  seemed  desirable  in  his  own 
eyes.  But  the  French  are  again  aroused. 
They  will  not  quietly  submit  to  absolute  mon 
archy.  The  Prussian  government  has  recog 
nized  the  rights  of  the  people.  Even  Austria 
has  felt  the  influence  of  the  age.  Russia  has 
accomplished  wonders  in  the  way  of  reform, 
although  there  is  much  left  undone.  China 
feels  the  influence  of  the  great  changes  in  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Italy,  Spain,  and,  in  fact, 
nearly  all  the  nations  of  the  globe,  have  under 
gone  some  remarkable  political  or  intellectual 
change  during  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
spread  of  Christianity,  through  the  efforts  of 
missionaries,  and  the  consequent  advancement 
of  knowledge  and  civilization  among  the  bar 
barous  nations  and  tribes,  are  most  important 
features  of  the  times.  Wars  have  been  fre 
quent  ;  and,  in  short,  the  changes  throughout 
the  known  world,  within  the  last  hundred  years, 
have  been  greater  than  those  of  any  other  cen 
tury  since  the  flood.  Old  institutions  have  been 
swept  away,  and  no  custom  is  likely  to  be  spared, 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

unless  it  has  a  better  plea  for  existence  than 
that  of  age.  * 

We  Americans  are  anxious  to  keep  in  ad 
vance  of  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  watch  with 
jealous  eye  any  European  innovation.  This 
may  be  a  laudable  ambition ;  but  there  is  need 
of  caution,  lest  we  destroy  good  and  bad  to 
gether,  and  have  no  more  discrimination  in 
adopting  what  is  new.  Formerly  the  fact  that 
a  law  or  custom  had  been  long  established  was 
a  presumption  in  its  favor.  At  the  present 
time,  there  are  many  well-meaning  persons  who 
seem  to  think  such  a  fact  an  evidence  that  the 
law  or  custom  should  be  abolished.  When 
justice,  truth,,  reason,  and  common  sense  are 
united  in  demanding  the  destruction  of  a  long- 
established  usage,  every  one  should  cry  out, 
"  Destroy !  "  but  if  they  unite  in  sustaining 
the  usage,  the  man  who  lays  hands  upon  it 
must  meet  the  retribution  of  a  just  God.  The 
decrees  of  the  Great  Lawgiver  have  existed 

C? 

from  eternity.  When  we  overturn  some 
stronghold^  of  iniquity,  and  establish  justice  by 
law,  we  are  only  restoring  wThat  has  been  dis 
placed  in  defiance  of  that  Ruler  who  is  the 
source  of  all  law.  We  may  introduce  new 
customs  ;  but  if  they  are  not  in  accordance  with 
his  precepts,  he  will  supplant  them.  The  one 


10  ECCE  FEMINA. 

who  is  eager  to  adopt  what  is  new  is  sometimes 
as  unreasonable  as  the  conservative  who  clings 

O 

blindly  to  the  past.  Neither  should  be  consid 
ered  worthy  of  attention,  unless  he  can  sup 
port  his  cause  by  good  and  sufficient  reasons. 
QPublic  opinion  is  like  the  pendulum  :  at  one 
time  it  swings  toward  conservatism,  then  to  the 
other  extreme.  There  is  danger  at  the  present 
time,  that  noble,  honest,  and  philanthropic  men 
and  women  may  be  deceived.  Many  are  thus 
deceived  already.  Our  country  is  in  just  such 
a  condition  that  it  can  easily  be  influenced  to 
adopt  new  measures  of  real  or  imaginary 
reform,  without  sufficiently  considering  the 
reasons  for  so  doing.  The  so-called  Woman's 
Rights  advocates  have  been  engaged  in  pre 
senting  their  views  to  the  country  since  1840  ; 
but  they  made  but  little  progress,  comparatively, 
until  after  the  close  of  the  war.  At  first  they 
were  received  with  scorn  and  ridicule  ;  but  at 
the  present  time  nearly  all  are  willing  to  listen 
to  their  arguments  with  candor,  even  though 

O  '  & 

they  do  not  expect  to  become  converts.  It  is 
certainly  a  subject  worthy  of  consideration  ;  and 
we  should  not  accept  or  reject  the  conclusions 
of  those  who  lead  this  movement,  without  fully 
comprehending  the  reasons  why.  For  years 
the  antislavery  reformers  struggled  manfully 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  without  much 
apparent  success.  When  the  war  broke  out,  a 
large  majority  of  the  people  of  the  North  were 
willing  to  let  the  slave  remain  where  he  was. 
But  that  institution,  with  its  evils,  was  suddenly 
swept  away.  Since  then  a  large  number  of 
men  and  women  have  turned  their  energies  to 
the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  female  suf 
frage.  Some  have  been  converted,  because 
they  did  not  wish  1»o  resist  this  as  they  did  the 
antislavery  movement.  They  are  eager  to  be 
in  the  van  of  this  army  of  reformers,  and  ima 
gine  they  will  be  rewarded  with  success  at  no 
distant  day.  Others  are  opposed  to  it,  but 
dare  not  resist  for  fear  they  will  be  laughed  at, 
as  those  were,  who,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
still  sympathized  with  the  South.  Some  are 
supporters  of  the  innovation,  because  they  think 
it  will  be  a  success,  although  they  hardly  know 
•why  it  should  succeed.  Those  who  have 
labored  for  years  without  much  hope  are  now 
enthusiastic.  There  is  but  one  serious  draw 
back  ;  the  majority  of  the  women  themselves 
seem  to  be  very  indifferent  to  the  movement. 
It  was  admitted  by  "The  Independent,"  a  few 
months  ago,  that  this  was  one  of  the  greatest 
obstacles  which  they  had  to  contend  with.  If  all 
the  women  had  as  keen  a  sense  of  the  wrong 


12  ECCE  FEM1NA. 

clone  them,  in  being  deprived  of  the  ballot,  as 
have  the  leaders  of  this  reform,  doubtless  the 
cause  would  succeed  within  two  years.J 

But  we  will  give  the  Innovators  *  the  credit 
of  having  advanced  some  very  plausible  reasons 
why  women  should  have  the  ballot,  —  probably 
as  good  as  can  be  produced.  To  Americans, 
many  of  their  arguments  are  very  convincing, 
especially  to  those  who  are  eager  to  be  foremost 
in  the  next  great  reform,  ^e  will  admit  that 
some  of  the  objections  raised  against  this  move 
ment  have  been  very  weak  ;  but  this  is  not  true 
of  all  that  has  been  said.  Very  good  and  rea 
sonable  arguments  have  been  produced  by  those 
who  do  not  believe  it  best  for  either  sex  that  the 
j-ight  of  suffrage  should  be  extended  to  women. 
\JHowever,  it  may  be  true  that  the  Innovators 
have  the  best  of  the  argument  thus  far.  This 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  following  facts. 
In  the  first  place,  many  of  the  laws  and  cus 
toms  that  have  prevailed  to  the  present  time 
have  been  unjust  to  women,  hence  they  could 
fairly  be  denounced  ;  and,  on  this  account,  able 


*  In  the  remainder  of  this  book,  those  who  advocate  female 
suffrage  will  be  called  the  Innovators,  on  account  of  the  conve 
nience  of  using  one  word.  It  is  not  intended  as  a  term  of  re 
proach,  but  simply  to  express  the  fact  that  they  are  a  class  of 
persons  who  wish  to  introduce  something  new. 


INTR  OD  UG  TION.  1 3 

and  honest  men  have  hesitated  in  opposing 
female  suffrage,  lest  they  should  also  seem  to 
support  the  laws  and  customs  that  have  really 
wronged  the  opposite  sex.  Besides,  they  have 
generally  been  willing  to  listen  candidly  to  the 
arguments  of  the  Innovators,  and  are  now  but 

O 

just  beginning  to  make  systematic  replies  to 
them.  Some  of  the  best  orators  and  writers 
in  this  country  and  in  England  have  been  for 
some  time  presenting  their  views  in  favor  of 
this  movement,  and  have  so  thoroughly  ex 
hausted  the  subject,  that,  since  the  publication 
of  Mill's  "  Subjection  of  Women,"  there  proba 
bly  remains  but  little  more  that  can  be  said  on 
that  side  of  the  question .J 

The  men  generally  have  been  waiting  to 
hear  what  the  other  sex  say  on  the  subject  ; 
yet  some  of  them  have  made  such  progress  (?) 
that  they  are  in  favor  of  female  suffrage,  while 
their  wives  are  not.  We  think  that  a  majority 
of  the  women  in  our  country  will  sustain  us 
when  we  assert  that  the  greater  portion  of  the 
men  would  be  willing  to  grant  them  the  right 
of  voting  if  they  generally  desired  it,  even 
though  the  men  were  not  fully  convinced  that 
it  was  best.  Notwithstanding  what  Mill  and 
others  have  said,  it  is  true  in  the  United  States, 
we  think,  that  four  men  out  of  every  five,  and 


14  EGCE  FEMINA. 

perhaps  nine  out  of  every  ten,  yield  to  their 
wives  as  often  as  their  wives  yield  to  them. 
When  a  wife  scolds  the  patience  out  of  her  hus 
band,  or  a  husband  abuses  his  wife,  it  attracts 
attention  ;  but  people  take  no  notice  of  the 
more  numerous  class  that  live  in  harmony. 
The  opposition  is  as  yet  but  imperfectly  devel 
oped,  and  the  success  of  the  so-called  reform  may 
not  be  as  certain  as  some  imagine.  Some  who 
oppose  the  movement  may  be  rash  and  unrea 
sonable,  as  are  some  who  favor  it ;  but  it  is  'a 
mistake  to  think  that  all  of  the  opponents  are 
conservatives  who  are  blindly  wedded  to  the 
past,  and  are  thoughtlessly  resisting  the  measure 
because  it  is  new.  Probably  a  majority  of  the 
Innovators  are  thoughtful,  intelligent,  high- 
minded  men  and  women,  who  deserve  to  be 
listened  to  with  respect,  and  answered  by  argu 
ments  founded  on  truth  and  reason.  If  the 
author  is  not  able  to  do  this,  it  will  be  the  fault 
of  the  head  rather  than  the  heart. 

I  trust  that  the  reader  will  pardon  me  for  a 
little  egotism  at  this  point,  as  my  own  experi 
ence  may  be  similar  to  that  of  some  who  read 
this  book.  As  I  had  been  a  Garrisonian  aboli 
tionist,  after  slavery  was  abolished  I  felt  a  natu 
ral  inclination  to  follow  the  same  men  in  the 
Woman's  Rights  movement.  I  read  what  I 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

could  find  011  both  sides.  There  seemed  to  be 
more  arguments  in  favor  of  it  than  I  could 
refute  ;  yet  there  was  a  lurking  feeling  that 
there  was  a  fallacy  in  the  reasoning  of  the 
Innovators,  though  I  could  not  discover  any. 
Was  this  a  prejudice  still  lingering  in  my  mind, 
or  was  it  a  feeling  that  had  its  foundation  in 
some  truth  that  I  could  not  discover  ?  I  satis 
fied  myself  that  my  sympathies  were  all  witli 
such  noble-minded  men  as  Garrison,  Phillips, 
Theodore  Tilton,  and  others,  who  were  num 
bered  among  the  leaders.  What  an  honor  to 
be  numbered  among  the  first  that  supported  the 
next  great  movement  of  reform !  What  a 
disgrace  to  resist  and  be  crushed  beneath  the 
wheels  of  progress  !  When  a  man  is  sure  that 
he  is  on  the  road  to  a  real  reformation,  let  him 
spur  his  mind  to  enthusiasm  by  such  considera 
tions  as  these  ;  but  it  is  never  safe  to  allow  his 
reasoning  powers  to  be  influenced  by  them  in 
forming  a  correct  judgment  of  what  is  and 
what  is  not  a  genuine  measure  of  reform.  , 

Having  satisfied  myself  that  the  feeling 
which  I  have  mentioned  was  not  what  is  com 
monly  called  prejudice,  I  was  still  unable  to 
answer  the  arguments  which  were  advanced  in 
favor  of  female  suffrage.  I  took  for  granted 
that  there  was  no  mental  difference  in  the  sexes 


16  ECCE  FEMINA. 

worthy  of  consideration  ;  that  society  and  all 
just  government  were  founded  on  the  individ 
uals,  not  the  families ;  and  that,  of  those  per 
sons  who  had  come  to  years  of  discretion  and 
were  of  sound  mind,  one  had  just  as  good  a 
right  to  the  ballot  as  another.  I  could  under 
stand  why  a  woman  should  not  be  required  to 
do  military  duty,  because  there  was  a  physical 
incapacity  ;  but  there  was  no  marked  mental 
inferiority  on  account  of  which  she  could  be 
declared  incapable  of  voting  intelligibly.  If 
the  premises  given  above  be  granted,  I  could 
not  then,  nor  can  I  now,  see  how  logically  to 
avoid  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  women 
are  in  duty  bound  to  go  to  the  ballot-box  and 
vote,  the  same  as  men. 

When  I  say  that  I  took  the  premises  just 
mentioned  for  granted,  I  do  not  mean  to  assert 
that  I  then  analyzed  the  workings  of  my  mind 
and  found  I  was  taking  them  for  granted  in  all 
my  reasonings  ;  in  fact,  I  was  doing  this  uncon 
sciously,  when  I  found  myself  in  a  dilemma, 
and  in  order  to  extricate  myself,  I  was  obliged 
to  go  back  and  examine  every  thing,  and  see  if 
it  was  possible  to  reach  a  solid  foundation  any 
where.  It  has  taken  me  a  long  time  to  do  it, 
but  I  have,  at  last,  reached  a  solution  which  has 
satisfied  my  own  mind ;  whether  it  will  appear 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

reasonable  to  the  mind  of  any  other  person  or 
not,  the  future  must  decide.  If  I  had  the  abil 
ity,  age,  and  experience  of  John  Stuart  Mill, 
my  opponent,  I  might  hope  to  be  more  success 
ful  in  presenting  my  arguments  than  I  dare 
now  presume  to  expect. 

We  think  that  the  Innovators  will  admit  that 
they  take  the  premises,  which  have  been  given, 
for  granted,  and  rest  all  their  reasoning  upon 
them  for  a  foundation.  Perhaps  they  have 
never  analyzed  them  in  this  way  ;  but  we  do  not 
see  how  they  can  raise  any  serious  objection  to 
the  statement  of  them  as  given  above.  Now,  if 
these  premises  can  be  proved  false,  of  course  the 
arguments  of  the  Innovators  will  fall  to  the 
ground.  The  task  is  a  difficult  one.  Arguments 
that  will  be  considered  conclusive  by  the  author, 
may  be  declared  worthless  by  an  opponent. 
But  no  harm  can  come  from  a  fair  discussion, 
and  good  may  result.  If  we  use  fallacious 
arguments,  or  in  any  way  lead  the  reader  to  a 
wrong  conclusion,  we  hope  that  some  one  will 
be  Joyal  to  truth,  and  refute  them.  We  shall 
endeavor  to  make  this  book  in  all  respects  an 
ally  of  truth,  although  we  feel  conscious  that 
we  cannot  do  this  unless  directed  by  wisdom 
higher  than  that  which  comes  from  earth. 

The  popular  mind  is  often  more  readily  influ- 


18  ECCE  FEMINA. 

enced  by  that  which  seems  to  be  the  echo  of 
some  generally-received  principle,  than  by  sound 
logical  reasoning.  It  takes  but  little  perversion 
or  explanation  to  make  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  support  almost  any  idea  that  is  ad 
vanced.  If  a  public  speaker  talks  an  hour  on 
any  political  subject,  and  closes  by  repeating, 
"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,"  &c., 
some  of  his  hearers  get  the  idea  that  there  is  a 
logical  connection  between  what  he  has  said  of 
his  own  and  what  he  has  quoted,  although  they 
may  really  be  opposed  to  each  other.  We  once 
heard  a  political  speaker  talk  for  two  hours,  and 
during  this  time  he  hardly  advocated  a  principle 
that  was  not  in  letter  and  spirit  directly  opposed 
to  the  truths  of  Christianity ;  but  he  closed  by 
giving  the  audience  as  glowing  a  description  of 
the  truth  and  value  of  the  Bible  as  any  Christian 
minister  could  have  given.  Doubtless  some  of 
the  people  went  away  thinking  that  all  he  said 
was  founded  on  Scripture.  There  is  a  story 
related  of  an  Indian  who  told  a  white  man  that 
if  he  would  go  over  a  hill  he  would  find  a  lake, 
near  the  lake  a  large  rock,  and  by  the  rock  a 
bag  of  gold.  The  white  man  went  and  searched, 
but  came  back  cursing  the  Indian. 

"  Why,"  said  the  red  man,  "  did  you  not  find 
the  lake?" 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

"  And  did  you  not  find  the  rock  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Well !  you  need  not  complain  then  ;  two 
truths  for  one  lie  is  very  well  for  an  Indian." 

Those  who  advocate  female  suffrage  are  not 
guilty  of  falsehood,  like  the  Indian,  but  some  of 
them  take  a  very  absurd  way  to  influence 
people  to  believe  their  doctrines.  They  tell 
us  two  truths  in  regard  to  women,  and  then 
denounce  us  as  enemies  to  the  sex  if  we  do  not 
conclude  that  women  have  a  right  to  vote,  when 
the  facts  stated  have  no  logical  relation  to  the 
question.  For  instance,  the  speaker  will  tell  a 
pathetic  story  in  regard  to  the  sufferings  of  a 
poor  girl  in  some  city  ;  then  he  may  state  some 
historical  fact  showing  the  abuse  to  which 
women  have  been  subjected  ;  and,  finally,  he  will 
close  his  speech  by  assuring  his  audience  that  if 
the  ballot  is  once  in  the  hands  of  the  women, 
these  abuses  and  horrors  will  no  longer  exist. 
If  this  is  reasoning,  then  John  Stuart  Mill's 
"  System  of  Logic"  is  good  for  nothing." 

The  book  recently  written  by  Dr.  Bushnell 
contains  many  excellencies,  but  the  truth  is  not 
presented  in  such  a  manner  as  to  satisfy  the 
mind  of  the  reader.  He  indulges  too  much  in 
random  thoughts,  that  are  good  in  themselves, 


20  ECCE  FEMINA. 

but  do  not  form  an  exhaustive  argument.  The 
author  evidently  has  the  truth  in  his  own  mind, 
but  he  has  not  been  accustomed  to  that  style  of 
writing  which  is  characteristic  of  the  logical 
debater.  If  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  writing 
such  works  as  Mill  has  written,  he  would  have 
given  us  a  book  that  might  be  considered  equal 
to  the  one  just  presented  to  the  public  by  that 
illustrious  Englishman.  We  do  not  think  that 

O 

the  Innovators  have  given  him  credit  for  what 
he  has  done.  Perhaps  they  consider  it  for 
their  interest  to  make  the  book  appear  of  little 
value.  The  benefit  which  we  have  derived 
from  the  perusal  of  his  work  has  assisted  us  in 
preparing  some  parts  of  this.  The  man  who 
first  writes  a  book  on  any  subject  labors  under 
disadvantages  that  are  unknown  to  those  who 
come  after  him. 

"  The  Subjection  of  Women,"  by  Mill,  has 
been  the  most  powerful  stimulant  which  we 
have  found  in  forming  the  plan  of  this  book. 
It  is  the  strongest  argument  that  has  been  pro 
duced  on  that  side  of  the  question  ;  but  is  brought 
out  in  such  a  way  that  the  weak  points  of  the 
Innovators  may  be  easily  discovered,  although 
he  uses  much  tact  in  covering  them  up.  If  Mill 
is  a  great  thinker,  his  writings  show  that  his  mind 
sometimes  becomes  enamoured  with  the  beauty 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

of  the  ideal,  causing  him  to  wander  too  far  from 
the  practical.  This  "  aberration  "  is  admirably 
described  by  himself.  "  The  principal  and  most 
characteristic  aberration  of  speculative  minds,  as 
such,  consists  precisely  in  the  deficiency  of  this 
lively  perception  and  ever-present  sense  of 
objective  fact.  For  want  of  this,  they  often 
not  only  overlook  the  contradiction  which  out 
ward  facts  oppose  to  their  theories,  but  lose 
sight  of  the  legitimate  purpose  of  speculation 
altogether,  and  let  their  speculative  faculties  go 
astray  into  regions  not  peopled  with  real  beings, 
animate  or  inanimate,  even  idealized,  but  with 
personified  shadows  created  by  the  illusions  of 
metaphysics  or  by  the  mere  entanglement  of 
words,  and  think  these  shadows  the  proper 
objects  of  the  highest,  the  most  transcendent, 
philosophy."  (p.  108.*) 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  book  is  for 
the  most  part  pervaded  with  the  spirit  of  a  phi 
losopher,  there  are  some  portions  where  the 
intense  feeling  of  the  author  does  violence  to 
his  judgment.  For  instance,  he  says,  "  The  law 
of  servitude  in  marriage  is  a  monstrous  contra- 
«  diction  to  all  the  principles  of  the  modern  world, 
and  to  all  the  experience  through  which  those 

*  The  references  are  to  Appleton's  Edition  of  Mill's  Subjection 
of  Women. 


22  ECCE  FEMINA. 

principles  have  been  slowly  and  painfully  worked 
out.  It  is  the  sole  case,  now  that  negro  slavery 
has  been  abolished,  in  which  a  human  being  in 
the  plenitude  of  every  faculty  is  delivered  up  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  another  human  being,  in 
the  hope  forsooth  that  this  other  will  use  the 
power  solely  for  the  good  of  the  person  sub 
jected  to  it.  Marriage  is  the  only  actual  bond 
age  known  to  our  law.  There  remain  no  legal 
slaves,  except  the  mistress  of  every  house." 
(p.  147.)  The  common  law  of  England  is,  in 
many  respects,  unjust  to  the  wife ;  but  the 
passage  quoted  is  a  gross  exaggeration.  This 
sweeping  assertion  was  either  made  when  the 
author  was  under  the  influence  of  a  stimulated 
imagination,  or,  at  best,  goes  to  show  that  Mill 
was  correct  in  his  "  System  of  Logic,"  when  he 
wrote,  "  that  even  the  most  cultivated  portion 
of  our  species  have  not  yet  learned  to  abstain 
from  drawing  conclusions  for  which  the  evidence 
is  insufficient." 

There  are  some  other  passages  of  a  similar 
character  in  "  The  Subjection  of  Women." 
These  would  seem  more  pardonable  in  a  public 
speaker,  who  might  wish,  on  account  of  the 
apathy  of  his  audience,  to  say  something  start 
ling  ;  yet  in  such  a  case  there  is  a  re-action 
afterward,  when  the  mind  of  the  hearer  exam- 


WTK  OD  UGTION.  23 

ines  carefully  the  statements  of  the  speaker. 
The  plain  truth  has  more  effect  in  the  end  than 
any  exaggeration.  Men  were  moved  when  they 
listened  to  the  touching  appeals  of  the  abolition 
ists,  as  they  revealejd  the  horrors  of  slavery, 
because  their  representations  were  genuine  and 
truthful.  Some  of  the  Innovators  have  endeav 
ored  to  arouse  public  opinion  by  portraying  the 
wrongs  of  women  in  glowing  colors ;  but  they 
have  failed  to  accomplish  as  much  by  this  as 
they  anticipated,  because  every  one  knows,  from 
observation,  that  their  representations  are  ex 
aggerated.  The  Innovators  are  right  in  contend 
ing  for  some  changes.  They  have  done  some 
good  already,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  write  any 
thing  that  will  tend  to  hinder  them  from  accom 
plishing  what  will  really  benefit  woman.  This 
book  is  written  mainly  to  oppose  female  suffrage  ; 
but  there  are  some  kindred  projects  that  demand 
opposition.  When  we  think  that  the  Innova 
tors  mistake  evil  for  good,  we  shall  try  to  give 
good  reasons  for  supporting  our  theory  in  pref 
erence  to  theirs.  When  we  think  that  they 
are  striving  for  any  good  result,  we  may  sug 
gest  a  method  of  accomplishing  it  without  the 
tedious  and  hazardous  process  of  overthrow 
ing  the  foundations  of  society  and  building 
anew. 


24  EGCE  FEMINA. 

In  making  comparisons,  and  especially  in 
reasoning  from  analogy,  an  author  is  frequently 
misunderstood.  It  should  be  remembered  that, 
in  analogy,  and  generally,  when  any  thing  is 
introduced  for  illustration,  only  one  point  of 
resemblance  is  considered  ;  the  comparison  or 
analogy  will  be  good  for  nothing  in  all  other 
points.  It  is  sometimes  desirable  to  use  illus 
trations,  as  they  enable  the  reader  to  grasp  the 
idea  of  the  author  more  readily  ;  but '  they 
should  not  be  construed  to  mean  more  or  less 
than  the  writer  intends. 

When  governments  in  all  of  their  compli 
cated  workings  are  able  to  form  the  very  best 
laws,  they  wiJJ  be  found  to  fall  far  short  of  that 
perfection  which  is  apparent  in  the  laws  of 
God  as  found  in  nature  and  Revelation.  Legis 
lators  show  the  greatest  wisdom  when  they 
form  their  laws,  as  nearly  as  possible,  according 
to  the  patterns  which  the  great  Lawgiver  has 
placed  within  their  reach.  We  learn  from 
nature  that  general  laws  are  beneficial  only 
under  certain  conditions  ;  and  if  these  conditions 
are  disregarded,  they  become  a  curse  instead  of 
a  blessing.  For  instance,  the  law  of  gravitation 
preserves  order  and  assists  in  carrying  on  all  of 
the  movements  in  the  world  ;  yet  it  sometimes 
brings  great  enterprises  to  destruction,  and  takes 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

away  human  life.  The  light  and  heat  of  the 
sun  are  necessary  for  the  growth  of  vegetation  ; 
yet  they  become  the  agents  of  destruction 
unless  there  is  an  abundance  of  soil  and  moist 
ure.  If  there  is  a  drought,  the  sun  withers  and 
scorches  the  green  fields  until  they  become  a 
desolate  waste.  Who  would  not  laugh  at  the 
man,  that,  in  such  a  case,  should  wish  to  have 
the  sun  blotted  out  of  existence,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  vegetation !  There  are  political 
reformers  (?)  who  are  enthusiastic  over  meas 
ures  that  they  think  would  be  beneficial  to  a 
minority  ;  but  they  do  not  take  into  considera 
tion  the  fact  that  these  same  measures  would  be 
detrimental  to  the  masses.  They  behold  a 
little  patch  of  grass  withering,  and  shout, 
"  Away  with  the  sun  !  "  without  intending  any 
harm  to  the  world  at  large.  They  mean  well, 
but  are  short-sighted.  If  society  is  composed 
of  families,  it  is  evident  that  the  laws  should  be 
based  upon  an  entirely  different  principle  from 
that  which  would  be  just  and  consistent  were 
there  no  such  institution  as  the  marriage  rela 
tion. 

Erroneous  conclusions  are  often  drawn  from 
facts,  but  not  all  of  the  facts.  One  reason 
why  some  are  eager  to  destroy  old  customs  and 
laws,  and  adopt  new,  is,  that  they  live  in  some 


26  ECCE  FEMINA. 

city  or  section  where  the  condition  of  those 
around  them  is  unlike  that  of  the  greater  por 
tion  of  the  people  of  the  whole  country  :  hence 
they  think  of  some  measure  which  would  bene 
fit  thousands  of  those  around  them,  but  over 
look  the  fact  that  it  might  injure  millions  in 
other  parts  of  the  country.  It  has  been  urged 
in  favor  of  female  suffrage,  that,  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  woman's  vote  would  insure  such 
a  stringent  liquor-law,  that  drunkenness  would 
be  almost  impossible.  Perhaps  it  is  true  ;  yet 
in  some  other  parts  of  the  country  it  wrould 
increase  the  chances  of  corruption,  and  the 
aggregate  gain  to  morality  might  be  a  loss. 
However,  suppose  that  it  would  be  a  gain  to 
the  cause  of  justice  for  a  few  years,  there  is  no 
certainty  that  this  would  last.  For  instance, 
take  the  case  of  prohibitory  laws,  where  we 
would  least  expect  to  find  woman  wrong.  At 
the  present  it  would  seem  almost  impossible  to 
make  as  many  women  use  intoxicating  drinks 
as  men  ;  but  influences  might  be  brought  to 
bear  that  would  little  by  little  diminish  the 
horror  which  women  feel  at  the  sight  of  a 
drunken  man.  Moderate  drinking  is  very 
respectable  in  the  sight  of  many  women  now. 
The  number  who  use  intoxicating  drinks  is 
larger  than  some  suppose.  At  present,  men 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

generally  try  to  conceal  their  intemperate  habits 
from  their  female  friends  ;  but,  as  soon  as 
woman  becomes  a  voter,  means  will  be  used  to 
make  her  as  corrupt  as  her  male  associates. 
And,  improbable  as  it  now  seems,  the  gentler 
sex,  in  the  course  of  a  generation,  might  be  in 
a  condition  to  vote  no  better  on  prohibitory 
laws  than  men  do  now  ;  beside,  having  become 
debased  themselves,  the  cause  of  morality  would 
lose,  instead  of  gain.  The  reason  why  women 
are  now  better  .than  men,  is  because  they  are 
under  better  influences,  and  less  subjected  to 
temptation.  We  have  only  to  go  to  some  por 
tions  of  our  cities,  to  learn  how  depraved  and 
hideous  woman  can  become.  We  do  not  now 
say  that  such  evil  results  would  be  brought 
about,  but  we  say  that  they  might.  "  Evil 
communications  corrupt  good  manners."  If 
only  a  few  more  women  were  lowered  morally 
by  the  use  of  strong  drink,  the  amount  of 
immorality  would  be  greater  than  it  is  now. 

In  the  midst  of  the  disturbances  and  commo 
tions  of  this  world,  it  is  the  misfortune  of  the 
few  to  be  placed  in  circumstances  unlike  those 
which  surround  the  mass  of  mankind.  As  soci 
ety  is  organized  for  and  by  the  majority,  cus 
toms  and  laws  which  are  really  as  good  as  they 


28  ECCE  FEMINA. 

can  be  operate  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
minority.  To  do  justice  to  those  few  cases  in 
which  injustice  would  prevail  according  to  gen 
eral  laws,  courts  of  equity  have  been  established 
with  certain  discretionary  powers.  As  a  gen 
eral  rule,  it  is  not  safe  for  law  to  make  excep 
tions  ;  and,  when  special  provisions  are  made 
for  the  few,  there  is  need  of  great  caution  to 
prevent  causing  evils  greater  than  those  re 
moved.  A  generous,  warm-hearted  man  would 
naturally  think  that  there  could  be  no  danger 
of  making  too  ample  provision  for  the  poor  ; 
but  political  economists  have  proved  that  there 
is.  There  are  many  men  who  would  not  make 
an  effort  to  support  themselves,  if  they  could 
have  a  new  suit  of  clothes  furnished  them  as 
often  as  the  old  ones  became  ragged. 

"  We  legislate,  we  arrange  society,  for  the 
masses,  not  the  exceptions,"  says  Wendell 
Phillips.  The  reasoning  in  some  portions  of 
"  Mill's  Subjection  of  Women  "  is  fallacious, 
as  he  draws  his  conclusions  from  the  exceptions. 
Laws  or  customs  founded  upon  such  philoso 
phy  must  necessarily  be  unjust  to  the  majority; 
yet  the  public  is  more  easily  deceived  in  this 
way  than  in  any  other,  as  it  is  generally  sup 
posed  to  be  sufficient  for  a  man  to  state  facts. 


INTRODUCTION. 


29 


and  then  derive  his  conclusions  logically  from 
those  facts.  By  disregarding  important  truths, 
and  mixing  together  general  and  partial  truth, 
it  is  very  easy  to  obtain  false  conclusions. 


30  ECCE  FEMINA. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    SEXES    COMPARED. 

HERE  has  been  considerable  dis 
cussion  in  regard  to  the  equality  of 
the  sexes,  within  the  past  few  years : 
some  asserting  that  men  and  women 
are  mentally  equal,  some  that  they  are  not ;  and 
others,  that  it  makes  no  difference  whether  they 
are  or  not,  as  far  as  the  question  of  suffrage  is 
concerned.  None  of  these  statements  are  ex 
actly  correct.  There  is  much  truth  in  the 
remark  of  Dr.  Bushnell,  that  we  cannot  predi 
cate  equality  of  things  that  are  unlike.  Perhaps 
it  is  not  necessary  to  know  whether,  on  the 
whole,  one  sex  is  superior  to  the  other ;  but  it  is 
not  possible  to  determine  the  proper  relation  of 
the  sexes,  without  knowing,  to  a  certain  extent, 
their  natures,  and  whether  they  are  alike  or 
unlike.  Does  not  the  structure  of  the  fish  prove 
it  was  made  to  live  in  the  water?  We  can  tell 
the  nature  of  the  food  which  an  animal  requires, 
although  we  may  have  never  seen  one  of  the 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  31 

kind  before.  According  to  Mill's  theory,  we 
would  be  obliged  to  try  every  kind  of  food  in 
the  world  before  we  should  know  that  we  had 
obtained  the  right  sort.  When  we  observe  a 
lawyer  objecting  to  a  question  asked  a  witness, 
we  do  not  always  conclude  that  he  is  trying  to 
keep  out  matters  which  are  foreign  to  the  case, 
as  it  often  becomes  apparent  that  he  is  only 
employing  strategy,  for  the  sake  of  excluding 
testimony  which  he  foresees  will  be  against  him. 
We  do  not  hesitate  to  assert,  that  the  reason  why 
the  Innovators  try  to  evade  all  discussion  on  the 
nature  and  relation  of  the  sexes,  is  because  they 
know  that  it  would  injure  their  cause.  If  they 
can  prevent  their  opponents  obtaining  a  foot 
hold,  they  think  that  they  are  safe.  They 
raise  the  cry  that  it  is  a  subject  that  can  be  dis 
cussed  and  investigated  without  ever  reaching 
any  limit,  as  though  the  fact  that  we  cannot 
tell  exactly  what  the  difference  is  between  man 
and  woman  should  keep  us  from  making  use 
of  what  knowledge  we  have.  This  subject  is 
no  more  indefinite  than  many  others  in  social 
and  political  life  which  we  are  constantly  inves 
tigating.  The  knowledge  of  masculine  or  fem 
inine  nature  can  not  be  reduced  to  an  exact 
science  ;  yet  there  is  no  difficulty  in  deducing 
some  general  truths,  —  all  that  are  needed  to  de- 


32  .ECCE  FEMINA. 

cide  tlie  question  of  female  suffrage.  All  human 
knowledge  is  incomplete ;  but  enough  can  be 
known  to  enable  man  to  solve  all  of  the  prob 
lems  that  are  involved  in  the  formation  and 
administration  of  government. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  in  all  countries  and 
in  all  ages  there  has  been  a  belief  in  a  radical 
difference  between  the  sexes ;  that  man  is 
naturally  fitted  to  perform  certain  duties,  and 
not  adapted  to  perform  certain  other  duties ;  that 
woman  can  perform  some  things  better  than 
man,  and  others  not  as  well.  Adventitious  cir 
cumstances  may  account  for  the  fact  that  the 
weaker  sex  has  often  been  wronged,  and  an  arbi 
trary  division  of  the  duties  and  privileges  of  the 
sexes  established  ;  but  something  more  is  neces 
sary  to  account  for  the  universal  belief  in  some 
kind  of  a  division  of  responsibilities.  During  the 
earlier  periods  of  the  world's  history,  woman  was 
generally  considered  the  inferior  of  man.  In 
the  age  of  chivalry,  the  world  went  to  the  other 
extreme,  and  made  her  the  superior  of  man,  and 
she  was  almost  deified.  At  the  present  time,  in 
civilized  countries,  she  is  generally  regarded  as 
the  equal  of  man  :  the  proof  of  this  will  be 
given  elsewhere.  During  these  three  stages  of 
opinion,  there  has  been  no  doubt  in  regard  to 
the  difference  between  the  sexes.  This  belief 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  33 

has  been  as  general  as  the  idea  of  a  god  of  some 
kind.  Although  but  few  have  had  a  correct 

C? 

notion  of  the  true  God,  yet  the  belief  in  a  supe 
rior  being  of  some  -kind  is  universal.  Perhaps 
we  do  not  get  our  idea  of  a  particular  sphere  for 
each  of  the  sexes  metaphysically  by  the  same 
method,  as  the  one  is  probably  intuitive  and  the 
other  learned  by  observation.  If  this  could  be 
accounted  for  on  the  theory  that  men  rule 
women  by  force,  the  age  of  chivalry  would  have 
destroyed  such  a  system  of  usurpation. 

Those  who  have  been  in  favor  of  female 
suffrage  have  not  met  this  question  fairly,  but 
have  endeavored  to  brow-beat  the  public,  and 
have  hooted  and  ridiculed  the  idea  of  a  particu 
lar  "  sphere  "  for  woman,  declaring  it  nothing 
but  a  groundless  prejudice.  There  have  been 
so  much  scorn  and  derision  brought  against  this 

O  Z~3 

notion,  that  many  who  believe  in  it  dare  not 
mention  the  subject  now.  Perhaps  the  author 
of  this  book  will  be  ridiculed  for  reviving  a  dead 

O 

subject.  When  the  Innovators  carry  this  point 
by  fair  argument,  we  will  yield ;  but  we  cannot 
see  the  necessity  of  abandoning  a  position  be 
cause  it  has  been  assailed  by  sneers.  Perhaps 
the  idea  as  used  by  the  ignorant  was  a  proper 
subject  for  derision,  as  it  was  used  for  a  cloak  to 
cover  some  abuses  which  every  candid  person 


34  ECCE  FEMINA. 

admits  should  be  removed.  The  nature  of  the 
sexes  is  the  same,  or  the  nature  of  woman  differs 
from  that  of  man.  The  Innovators  ought  to  be 
candid  enough  to  take  one  side  or  the  other,  and 
cease  to  evade  a  fair  discussion  by  vague  gen 
eral  assertions.  We  consider  it  a  self-evident 
truth,  that  God  never  made  two  classes  of 
creatures  radically  unlike  if  he  intended  them 
for  the  same  sphere  of  action.  The  general 
sentiment  of  mankind  must  stand  until  proof  is 
furnished  that  it  is  contrary  to  reason  and  nature. 
The  assertion  that  this  idea  is  nothino-  but  a 

O 

groundless  prejudice  does  not  make  it  so.  Neither 
slavery  nor  any  other  evil  can  claim  to  have 
been  regarded  as  just  and  natural  by  all  classes 
and  in  all  ages. 

Before  deciding  the  question  of  female  suf 
frage,  it  is  necessary  to  examine  some  facts  which 
corroborate  the  universal  belief  in  a  distinction 
of  sex,  and  ascertain,  as  nearly  as  we  can,  in 
what  respects  the  sexes  differ.  But  John  Stu 
art  Mill  meets  us  here  with  the  lawyer's  tactics. 
He  says,  in  the  first  place,  that  our  witnesses  do 
not  and  can  not  know  any  thing  about  woman. 
As  his  reasoning  on  this  point  is  the  most  in 
genious  piece  of  fallacy  that  has  recently  been 
produced,  we  quote  at  length  from  "  The  Sub 
jection  of  Women." 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  35 

"  Neither  does  it  avail  any  thing  to  say  that 
the  nature  of  the  two  sexes  adapts  them  to  their 
present  functions  and  position,  and  renders  these 
appropriate  to  them.  Standing  on  the  ground 
of  common  sense  and  the  constitution  of  the 
human  mind,  I  deny  that  any  one  knows,  or  can 
know,  the  nature  of  the  two  sexes,  as  long  as 
they  have  only  been  seen  in  their  present  rela 
tion  to  one  another.  If  men  had  ever  been 
found  in  society  without  women,  or  women 
without  men,  or  if  there  had  been  a  society  of 
men  and  women  in  which  the  women  were  not 
under  the  control  of  the  men,  something  might 
have  been  positively  known  about  the  mental 
and  moral  differences  which  may  be  inherent  in 
the  nature  of  each.  What  is  now  called  the 
nature  of  women  is  an  eminently  artificial  thing, 
—  the  result  of  forced  repression  in  some  direc 
tions,  unnatural  stimulation  in  others." 

"  Hence,  in  regard  to  that  most  difficult  ques 
tion,  What  are  the  natural  differences  between 
the  two  sexes,  — a  subject  on  which  it  is  impos 
sible  in  the  present  state  of  society  to  obtain 
complete  and  correct  knowledge,  —  while  almost 
everybody  dogmatizes  upon  it,  almost  all  neg 
lect  and  make  light  of  the  only  means  by  which 
any  partial  insight  can  be  obtained  into  it. 


36  EGCE  FEMINA. 

This  is  an  analytical  study  of  the  most  impor 
tant  department  of  psychology, —  the  laws  of  die 
influence  of  circumstances  on  character.  For, 
however  great  and  apparently  ineradicable  the 
moral  and  intellectual  differences  between  men 
and  women  might  be,  the  evidence  of  there 
being  natural  differences  could  only  be  negative. 
Those  only  could  be  inferred  to  be  natural 
which  could  not  possibly  be  artificial, —  the 
residuum,  after  deducting  every  characteristic  of 
either  sex  which  can  admit  of  being  explained 
from  education  or  external  circumstances.  The 
profoundest  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  for 
mation  of  character  is  indispensable  to  entitle 
any  one  to  affirm  even  that  there  is  any  differ 
ence,  much  more  what  the  difference  is,  between 
the  two  sexes  considered  as  moral  and  rational 
beings ;  and  since  no  one,  as  yet,  has  that 
knowledge  (for  there  is  hardly  any  subject 
which,  in  proportion  to  its  importance,  has  been 
so  little  studied),  no  one  is  thus  far  entitled  to 
any  positive  opinion  on  the  subject.  Conjectures 
are  all  that  can  at  present  be  made, —  conjectures 
more  or  less  probable,  according  as  more  or  less 
authorized  by  such  knowledge  as  we  yet  have 
of  the  laws  of  psychology,  as  applied  to  the 
formation  of  character. 

"  Even  the  preliminary  knowledge,  what  the 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  37 

differences  between  the  sexes  now  are,  apart  from 
all  question  as  to  how  they  are  made  what  they 
are,  is" still  in  the  crudest  and  most  incomplete 
state.  Medical  practitioners  and  physiologists 
have  ascertained,  to  some  extent,  the  differences 
in  bodily  constitution  ;  and  this  is  an  important 
element  to  the  psychologist ;  but  hardly  any 
medical  practitioner  is  a  psychologist.  Respect- 
hig  the  mental  characteristics  of  women,  their 
observations  are  of  no  more  worth  than  those  of 
common  men.  It  is  a  subject  on  which  nothing 
final  can  be  known,  so  long  as  those  who  alone 
can  really  know  it,  women  themselves,  have 
given  but  little  testimony,  and  that  little  mostly 
suborned.  It  is  easy  to  know  stupid  women. 
Stupidity  is  much  the  same  all  the  world  over. 
A  stupid  person's  notions  and  feelings  may  con 
fidently  be  inferred  from  those  which  prevail 
in  the  circle  by  which  the  person  is  surrounded. 
Not  so  with  those  whose  opinions  and  feelings 
are  an  emanation  from  their  own  nature  and 
faculties.  It  is  only  a  man  here  and  there  who 
has  any  tolerable  knowledge  of  the  character 
even  of  the  women  of  his  own  family.  I  do 
not  mean  of  their  capabilities,  these  nobody 
knows, —  not  even  themselves, —  because  most  of 
them  have  never  been  called  out.  I  mean  their 
actually  existing*  thoughts  and  feelings."  He 


38  ECGE  FEMINA. 

then  enumerates  a  dozen  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  a  man's  understanding  his  own  wife  perfectly, 
and  says  that  to  have  his  knowledge*  good 
for  any  thing,  she  must  be  a  woman  "  worth 
knowing,  and  the  man  not  only  a  competent 
judge,  but  of  a  character  so  sympathetic  in  itself, 
and  so  well  adapted  to  hers,  that  he  can  either 
read  her  mind  by  sympathetic  intuition,  or  has 
nothing  in  himself  which  makes  her  shy  of  dis 
closing  it.  Hardly  any  tiring,  1  believe,  can  be 
more  rare  than  this  conjunction"  We  can  see  at 
once  that  Mill  is  following  his  fancy  ;  for  govern 
ment  is  based,  not  upon  a  knowledge  of  these 
"  rare  "  cases,  but  upon  the  knowledge  we  have 
of  the  masses, —  "  stupid"  men  and  women,  as 
well  as  the  wise  and  learned.  He  then  adds, 
"  All  these  difficulties  stand  in  the  way  of  a  man's 
obtaining  any  thorough  knowledge  even  of  the 
one  woman  whom  alone,  in  general,  he  has 
sufficient  opportunity  of  studying.  When  we 
further  consider  that  to  understand  one  woman 
is  not  necessarily  to  understand  any  other 
woman ;  that  even  if  he  could  study  many 
women  of  one  rank,  or  of  one  country,  he  would 
not  thereby  understand  women  of  other  ranks 
•  or  countries  ;  and  even  if  he  did,  they  are  still 
only  the  women  of  a  single  period  of  history  : 
we  may  safely  assert  that  the  knowledge  which 


THE  SEXES   COMPARED.  39 

men  can  acquire  of  women,  even  as  they  have 
been  and  are,  without  reference  to  what  they 
might  be,  is  wretchedly  imperfect  and  superficial, 
and  always  will  be  so,  until  women  themselves 
have  told  all  that  they  have  to  tell.  .  .  . 

"  The  greater  part  of  what  women  write 
about  women  is  mere  sycophancy  to  men.  In 
the  case  of  unmarried  women,  much  of  it  seems 
only  intended  to  increase  their  chance  of  a  hus 
band.  Many,  both  married  and  unmarried, 
overstep  the  mark,  and  inculcate  a  servility 
beyond  what  is  desired  or  relished  by  any  man, 
except  the  vulgarest.  But  this  is  not  so  often 
the  case  as,  even  at  a  quite  late  date,  it  still  was. 
Literary  women  are  becoming  more  free-spoken, 
and  more  willing  to  express  their  real  sentiments. 
Unfortunately,  in  this  country  especially,  they 
are  themselves  such  artificial  products,  that  their 
sentiments  are  compounded  of  a  small  element 
of  individual  observation  and  consciousness,  and 
a  very  large  one  of  acquired  associations.  This 
will  be  less  and  less  the  case,  but  it  will  remain 
true  to  a  great  extent,  as  long  as  social  institu 
tions  do  not  admit  the  same  free  development 
of  originality  in  women  which  is  possible  to  men. 
When  that  time  comes,  and  not  before,  we  shall 
see,  and  not  merely  hear,  as  much  as  it  is  neces 
sary  to  know  of  the  nature  of  women,  and  the 
adaptation  of  other  things  to  it. 


40  ECCE  FEMINA. 

"  I  have  dwelt  so  much  on  the  difficulties 
which  at  present  obstruct  any  real  knowledge  by 
men  of  the  true  nature  of  women,  because  in 
this  as  in  so  many  other  things,  '  opinio  copiae 
inter  maximas  causas  inopiae  est ; '  and  there  is 
little  chance  of  reasonable  thinking  on  the  mat 
ter,  while  people  flatter  themselves  fliat  they 
perfectly  understand  a  subject  of  which  most 
men  know  absolutely,  nothing,  and  of  which  it 
is  at  present  impossible  that  any  man,  or  all  men 
taken  together,  should  have  any  knowledge 
which  can  qualify  them  to  lay  down  the  law  to 
women  as  to  what  is,  or  is  not,  their  vocation," 
pp.  38-48.  Hence,  if  there  are  no  fallacies  in 
the  foregoing,  he  lias  shown  that  the  known,  in 
regard  to  woman,  is  infinitesimally  small,  while 
the  unknown  is  infinitely  large.  He  proves  not 
only  enough,  but  too  much  for  his  own  cause. 
If  we  believe  Mill,  we  must  conclude  that  at 
present  we  have  no  means  of  telling  whether 
women  are  inferior,  equal,  or  superior  to  men  ; 
and,  further,  we  must  also  conclude  that  the 
knowledge  which  Mr.  Mill  has  of  the  subject  on 
which  he  has  written  a  book  "  is  wretchedly  im 
perfect  and  superficial"  Mill  admits  that  the 
presumption  should  be  in  favor  of  the  existing 
order  of  society.  He  comes  before  the  world 
and  says  substantially  this  :  "  I  find  from  history 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  41 

that  men  have  thus  far  ruled  the  world,  while 
there  is  a  race  of  beings  called  women  who  have 

£3 

been  otherwise  engaged.  I  can  not  ascertain 
much  about  the  character  of  women  ;  in  fact,  the 
truth  in  regard  to  their  character  is  so  utterly 
unknown,  that  '  no  one  is  thus  far  entitled  to  any 
positive  opinion  on  the  subject.''  I  find,  however, 
that  they  will  lie  and  equivocate  *  for  the  sake 
of  pleasing  the  men,  and,  are,  as  a  general  rule, 
a  race  of  sycophants. f  Notwithstanding  these 
obstacles,  4  there  are  no  means  of  finding  what 
either  one  person  or  many  can  do,  but  by  trying  ; ' 
as  '  conjectures  are  all  that  can  at  present  be 
made : '  hence,  I  conjecture  that  it  would  be  one 
of  the  grandest  reformations  of  modern  times 
to  tear  down  the  system  by  which  the  world 
has  been  governed,  and  make  these  unknown 
beings  called  women  rulers  as  well  as  men  ;  and 
I  feel  confident  that  we  have  no  means  of  com 
puting  the  good  that  will  result  from  the 
change."  If  he  had  made  this  the  whole  of  his 
message  to  the  world,  his  inconsistencies  would 
have  been  fewer  than  they  now  are,  and  easily 
detected  by  the  public. 

Mill  was  determined  to  annihilate  his  oppo 
nents  by  this  one  grand  stroke  of  reasoning. 
Let  us  compare  him  to  a  captain  of  a  ship.  He 

*  See  p.  37,  line  13.  f  See  p.  39,  lines  5  and  6. 


42  ECCE  FEMINA. 

wishes  to  give  the  enemy  a  broadside  ;  so  every 
gun  is  charged  to  the  muzzle :  at  the  word 
"  fire,"  there  is  such  a  mighty  shock  that  the 
very  waves  shudder.  There  is  a  smile  of  tri 
umph  on  the  face  of  Mill  as  lie  beholds  the  ship 
of  his  antagonist  sinking.  At  first  he  does  not 
notice  that  the  concussion  has  been  so  powerful 
that  his  own  ship  has  been  shattered  and  is 
already  sinking ;  but  he  is  soon  aroused  by  cries 
of  "  help."  Not  in  the  least  disconcerted,  he  pro 
ceeds  to  construct  a  raft,  on  which  he  hopes  to 
escape.  Here  is  the  identical  structure  on 
which  he  rides  and  claims  a  victory :  "  Happily, 
no  such  knowledge  is  necessary  for  any  practical 
purpose  connected  with  the  position  of  women 
in  relation  to  society  and  life.  For,  according 
to  all  the  principles  involved  in  modern  society, 
the  question  rests  with  women  themselves,  —  to 
be  decided  by  their  own  experience,  and  by  the 
use  of  their  own  faculties.  There  are  no  means 
of  finding  what  either  one  person  or  many  can 
do  but  by  trying,  and  no  means  by  which 
any  one  else  can  discover  for  them  what  it  is 
for  their  happiness  to  do  or  leave  undone."  If 
he  had  not  built  this  frail  contrivance,  he  cer 
tainly  could  have  had  no  excuse  for  writing  the 
remainder  of  his  book.  Let  us  examine  it. 
He  appeals  "  to  all -the  principles  involved  in 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  43 

modern  society,"  which  is  composed,  of  many 
"suborned,"  "stupid,"  "sycophantic"  women, 
and  a  very  few  sensible  ones,  and  men  who  are 
denounced  as  tyrants  and  usurpers  !  There  is 
a  wonderful  inconsistency  in  his  appealing  to  a 
tribunal  composed  of  such  persons ;  besides,  his 
book  is  written  to  show  that  the  "  principles 
involved  in  modern  society  "  are  wrong.  Then 
he  adds,  "  the  question  rests  with  women  them 
selves  ;  "  but  here  he  seems  to  remember  that  he 
has  already  called  them  a  stupid  set  of  syco 
phants,  and  he  knows,  too,  that,  if  the  question 
were  left  to  woman  now,  they  wrould  decide 
against  him  :  so  he  puts  in  a  dash,  and  leaves 
the  matter  to  "  experience  "  instead  of  woman  ; 
but  he  forgets  to  tell  us  how  we  are  to  get  the 
"  suborned  "  sex  to  make  the  trial.  When  lie 
says  that  there  are  "no  means"  of  deciding 
any  question  of  this  kind,  except  by  trial,  he 
states  what  he  does  not  believe  himself.  We 
would  not  undervalue  experience  ;  but  we  have 
means  of  arriving  at  a  good  degree  of  probabil 
ity  on  most  subjects  before  a  trial  has  been  made. 
We  know  certainly  that  it  would  be  injurious  to 
the  public  good  to  allow  children  six  years  of 
age  to  vote  ;  and  there  are  many  other  things 
that  we  know  without  trying.  Reasoning  from 
what  knowledge  we  have,  we  can  decide  most 


44  ECCE  FEMINA. 

political  questions  beforehand  with  a  good  degree 
of  certainty.  If  we  were  to  try  female  suffrage 
for  two  hundred  years,  and  there  should  then  be 
a  philosopher  as  ingenious  as  Mill,  he  would 
prove  conclusively  (?)  that  we  had  no  means  of 
telling  whether  the  experiment  has  been  a  suc 
cess  or  not.  He  would  show  that  all  of  our 
knowledge  on  the  subject  was  "  wretchedly 
imperfect  and  superficial." 

Mill  so  completely  destroys  himself,  that  it  is 
hardly  necessary  for  us  to  examine  each  point 
separately  ;  yet  we  will  briefly  notice  some  of 
them.  When  he  says  that  we  could  know 
something  about  the  inherent  nature  of  the 
sexes,  if  there  had  ever  been  a  society  where 
the  women  were  not  under  the  control  of  the 
men,  he  assumes  that  such  a  case  has  never 
happened  ;  which  is  false,  as  it  is  well  known 
that  in  the  age  of  chivalry  the  men  were  com 
pletely  under  the  control  of  women,  or  as  much 
so  as  we  could  well  conceive  of;  besides,  he  has 
no  right  to  assume  that  they  are  under  the 
control  of  men  at  present,  as  all  of  his  oppo 
nents  claim  that  women  have  now  essentially 
as  much  power  as  men.  We  have  as  good 
right  to  assume  this  as  he  has  the  contrary. 

to  " 

As  the  great  majority  of  women  are  now 
opposed  to  female  suffrage,  Mill  strives  hard  to 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  45 

impeach  these  opposing  witnesses,  and  rule  out 
their  testimony  ;  but  it  is  nonsense  to  assume 
that  those  who  are  opposed  to  female  suffrage 
are  any  less  sincere  than  those  who  favor  it. 
It  is  true  he  does  not  say  directly  that  they  are; 
but,  if  he  does  not  mean  this,  there  is  no  mean 
ing  in  his  remarks  about  the  opinion  and  testi 
mony  of  women.  The  greater  part  of  the 
unfairness  of  Mill's  book  consists  in  the  sly, 
easy,  and  misleading  manner  in  which  he  gets 
over  those  points  which  would  be  likely  to 
provoke  opposition.  He  did  not  dare  to  say, 
"  I  consider  the  testimony  of  those  women, 
who  do  not  believe  as  I  do,  worthless  ;  while 
that  given  by  my  female  friends  is  very  val 
uable." 

Perhaps  it  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that  Mill 
intends  to  mislead,  as  it  is  possible  that  his 
ingenuity  leads  his  own  mind  astray.  If  we 
follow  him  step  by  step,  we  seem  to  think  it 
necessary  to  get  the  positive  kind  of  evidence 
which  he  shows  cannot  be  obtained ;  but  a 
moment's  reflection  wrill  convince  his  readers 
that  certainty  is  not  to  be  reached,  in  a  great 
many  political  problems :  yet  we  can  acquire 
such  a  degree  of  probability,  that  it  amounts  to 
the  same  thing.  We  do  not  need  to  know  psy 
chologically  all  the  characteristics  of  a  man  to 


46  ECCE  FEMINA. 

decide  whether  he  can  be  a  good  mechanic  or 
not.  We  need  to  know  only  a  few  of  the 
mental  qualities  of  women  to  decide  the  ques 
tion  of  suffrage  and  office-holding,  and  these 
need  to  he  but  partially  known.  Nearly  all 
great  and  political  and  social  questions  turn  on 
one  or  two  important  principles.  There  are 
two  sides  to  these  questions ;  and  we  wish  to 
obtain  all  the  truth  we  can  on  both  sides,  and 
then  decide  in  favor  of  that  which  has  the 
most.  It  is  no  matter  that  we  cannot  ap 
proximate  to  accuracy  in  deciding  just  how 
great  the  amount  of  reliable  facts  is,  if  we  can 
only  know  that  the  mass  of  truth  on  one  side 
is  greater  than  that  on  the  other.  Accuracy 
is  desirable  when  it  can  be  obtained ;  yet,  where 
it  cannot,  there  must  be  a  decision  one  way  or 
the  other.  To  show  that  the  difficulties  are 
not  as  great  as  Mill  has  represented,  we  appeal 
from  John  Stuart  Mill  the  partisan,  to  John 
•Stuart  Mill  the  philosopher.  When  he  wrote 
"  The  Subjection  of  Women,"  he  had  a 
special  theory  to  prove  ;  and,  when  facts  or 
general  principles  came  in  his  way,  he  trampled 
them  under  foot.  When  he  wrote  his  "  System 
of  Logic,"  or  at  least  the  portion  of  it  to  which 
we  refer,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
he  wrote  as  a  philosophical  thinker.  We  do 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  47 

not  suppose  that  he  then  had  any  temptation  to 
distort  the  truth. 

u  There  is  a  case  in  which  approximate  prop 
ositions,  even  without  our  taking  note  of  the 
conditions  under  which  they  are  not  true  of 
individual  cases,  are  yet,  for  the  purposes  of 
science,  universal  ones  ;  namely,  in  the  scien 
tific  inquiries  which  relate  to  the  properties,  not 
of  individuals,  but  of  multitudes.  The  prin 
cipal  of  these  is  the  science  of  politics,  or  of 
human  society.  This  "science  is  principally 
concerned  with  the  actions,  not  of  solitary  indi 
viduals,  but  of  masses  ;  with  the  fortunes,  not  of 
single  persons  but  of  communities.  For  the 
statesman,  therefore,  it  is  generally  enough  to 
know  that  most  act  or  are  acted  upon  in  a  par 
ticular  way,  since  his  speculations  and  his  prac 
tical  arrangements  refer  almost  exclusively  to 
cases  in  which  the  whole  community,  or  some 
large  portion  of  it,  is  acted  upon  at  once,  and 
in  which,  therefore,  what  is  done  or  felt  by 
most  persons  determines  the  result  produced  by 
or  upon  the  body  at  large.  He  can  get  on 
well  enough  with  approximate  generalizations 
on  human  nature,  since  what  is  true  approxi 
mately  of  all  individuals  is  true  absolutely  of 
all  masses.  And  even  when  the  operations  of 
individual  men  have  a  part  fo  play  in  his  de- 


48  ECCE  FEMINA. 

ductions,  as  when  he  is  reasoning  of  kings,  or 
other  single  rulers,  still,  as  he  is  providing  for 
indefinite  duration,  involving  an  indefinite  suc 
cession  of  such  individuals,  he  must,  in  general, 
both  reason  and  act  as  if  what  is  true  of  most 
persons  were  true  of  all. 

"  The  two  kinds  of  considerations  above 
adduced  are  a  sufficient  refutation  of  the  popu 
lar  error,  that  speculations  on  society  and  gov 
ernment,  as  resting  upon  merely  probable  evi 
dence,  must  be  inferior  in  certainty  and  scien 
tific  accuracy  to  the  conclusions  of  what  are 
called  the  exact  sciences,  and  less  to  be  relied 
upon  in  practice."  (Book.  III.  Chap.  23, 
Sec.  7.) 

In  the  chapter  on  a  science  of  human  nature, 
we  find  the  following:  "  But  further,  even  in 
any  given  combination  of  present  circumstan 
ces,  no  assertion,  which  is  both  precise  and  uni 
versally  true,  can  be  made  respecting  the  man 
ner  in  which  human  beings  will  think,  feel,  or 
act.  This  is  not,  however,  because  every 
person's  modes  of  thinking,  feeling,  and  acting, 
do  not  depend  upon  causes  ;  nor  can  we  doubt 
that  if,  in  the  case  of  any  individual,  our  date 
could  be  complete,  we  even  now  know  enough 
of  the  ultimate  laws  by  which  mental  pheno 
mena  are  determined,  to  enable  us  to  predict 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  49 

with  tolerable  certainty,  if  not  with  perfect  pre 
cision,  what,  under  any  given  set  of  circum 
stances,  his  conduct  or  sentiments  would  be. 
But  the  impressions  and  actions  of  human 
beings  are  not  -solely  the  result  of  their  present 
circumstances,  but  the  joint  result  of  those  cir 
cumstances  and  the  characters  of  individuals  ; 
and  the  agencies  which  determine  human  char- 

O 

acter  are  so  numerous  and  diversified  (nothing 
which  has  happened  to  the  person  throughout 
life  being  without  its  portion  of  influence),  that 
in  the  aggregate  they  are  never  in  any  two 
cases  exactly  similar.  Hence,  even  if  our 
science  of  human  nature  were  theoretically  per 
fect,  that  is,  if  we  could  calculate  any  charac 
ter  as  we  can  calculate  the  orbit  of  any  planet, 
from  given  data,  still,  as  the  data  are  never  all 
given,  nor  ever  precisely  alike  in  different 
cases,  we  could  neither  make  infallible  predic 
tions,  nor  lay  down  universal  propositions. 

"  Inasmuch,  however,  as  many  of  those 
effects  which  it  is  of  most  importance  to  render 
amenable  to  human  foresight  and  control  are 
determined,  like  the  tides,  in  an  incomparably 
greater  degree  by  general  causes,  than  by  all 
partial  causes  taken  together ;  depending  in  the 
main  .on  those  circumstances  and  those  qualities 
which  are  common  to  all  mankind,  or  common  at 


50  ECCE  FEMINA. 

least  to  large  bodies  of  them,  and  only  in  a  small 
degree  on  the  idiosyncrasies  of  organization  or 
the  peculiar  history  of  individuals  ;  is  evidently 
possible,  with  regard  to  all  such  effects,  to  make 
predictions  which  will  almost  always  be  verified, 
and  general  propositions  which  are  almost  always 
true.  And  whenever  it  is  sufficient  to  know 
how  the  great  majority  of  the  human  race,  or 
of  some  nation  or  class  of  persons,  will  think, 
feel,  and  act,  these  propositions  are  equivalent 
to  universal  ones.  For  the  purposes  of  political 
and  social  science  this  is  sufficient.  As  we  for 
merly  remarked,  an  approximate  generalization 
is  practically,  in  social  inquiries,  equivalent  to 
an  exact  one  ;  that  which  is  only  probable  when 
asserted  of  human  beings  taken  individually, 
being  certain  when  affirmed  of  the  character 
and  collective  conduct  of  masses."  (Book  VI. 
Chap.  3,  Sec.  2.) 

Could  any  one  ask  for  a  more  complete  refu 
tation  of  Mill's  position  than  he  himself  has 
given  ?  We  shall  show  in  another  place,  as 
well  as  we  can,  that  the  question  of  suffrage 
must  depend  upon  the  mass  of  women,  not 
individuals.  According  to  the  above,  this  would 
make  the  difficulty  very  small,  comparatively. 
As  boys  and  girls  are  born  of  the  same  parents, 
all  that  is  said  in  regard  to  the  influences  which 


THE  SEXEti   COMPARED.  51 

have  controlled  women  for  ages  is  good  for  noth 
ing,  as  they  would  leave  their  impression  on  the 
male  as  well  as  female  children.  The  disturb 
ing  causes  are  only  the  peculiarities  of  present 
circumstances,  that  is,  the  circumstances  of  each 
age,  which  mould  the  then  existing  women. 
As  women  have  been  placed  in  a  great  variety 
of  circumstances,  it  is  not  difficult  to  decide  what 
peculiarities  are  natural :  hence  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  question  of  suffrage  must  be  determined 
"  in  an  incomparably  greater  degree  by  general 
causes,  than  by  all  partial  causes  taken  together." 
We  are  ready  to  grant  that  woman's  charac 
ter  would  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  changed  by 
engaging  in  political  life.  She  would  probably 
become  developed  by  those  duties,  as  man  is,  and 
she  would  be  much  more  like  man.  If  Mill 
and  his  coadjutors  can  prove  that  such  a  change 
is  desirable,  then  they  have  so  much  in  favor  of 
the  innovation  :  if  we  can  prove  that  it  is  not, 
then  we  have  so  much  against  it.  It  is  rather 
strange  that  those  who  wish  to  have  women 

O 

engage  in  all  the  duties  that  men  do,  in  order 
that  they  may  have  the  same  chance  of  mental 
development,  deny  that  they  would  become 
masculine.  They  contradict  themselves:  for 
their  plea  is,  that  the  placing  of  the  other  sex  in 
the  same  circumstances  would  bring  about  the 


52  ECCE  FEMINA. 

same  mental  development.  If  that  would  not 
make  woman  like  man,  or,  in  other  words,  mas 
culine,  what  would  ?  If  we  suppose,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  woman  will  not  become  mas 
culine  under  any  circumstances,  it  follows  that 
she  cannot  receive  the  same  mental  develop 
ment  that  man  can,  and  we  must  conclude  that 
the  sexes  are  unlike, —  the  mind  of  one  expand 
ing  in  one  direction,  and  that  of  the  other  in 
another.  This  does  not  make  one  inferior  to 
the  other,  by  any  means.  The  Innovators  seem 
to  have  an  idea  that  by  some  miraculous  process 
woman  is  to  retain  all  of  her  own  characteristics, 
and  then  acquire  the  good  qualities  of  the  other 
sex  without  any  of  the  bad  ones.  Neither  phi 
losophy  nor  common  sense  can  justify  such 
hopes.  The  question  to  be  decided,  then,  is  sim 
ply  this  :  Is  it  desirable  to  have  woman  become 
masculine,  instead  of  retaining  the  characteris 
tics  of  her  own  sex  ? 

When  we  can  prove  that  certain  duties  are 
natural  to  one  sex,  while  they  are  not  to  the 
other,  we  have  reached  an  ultimate  principle, 
and  no  further  reason  can  be  given  or  required. 
However,  by  an  examination  of  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  each  sex,  we  can  show  that 
the  dissimilarity  in  the  mental  structure  of  the 
sexes  is  reasonable,  and  consistent  with  the  good- 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  53 

ness  and  wisdom  of  the  Creator  ;  while  a  simi 
larity  would  not  be.  We  propose  now  to  notice 
some  of  the  most  important  physical  and  mental 
distinctive  characteristics  of  the  sexes.  The 
proof  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  following  asser 
tions  is  found  in  the  history  of  the  past  and 
present.  We  rely  upon  the  reader's  observation 
to  sustain  our  positions.  We  do  not  expect  to 
convince  cavillers  in  this  part  of  our  arguments, 
but  hope  to  pursuade  the  honest  inquirer. 

We  believe  that  in  some  respects  men  are 
naturally  superior  to  women  ;  we  also  believe 
that  in  others  women  are  superior  to  men.  In 
those  respects  in  which  one  sex  is  inferior, 
the  other  is  superior.  The  assertion  that  the 
sexes  are  equal  is  probably  true,  if  rightly  under 
stood  ;  but,  in  the  way  that  the  word  equal  is 
often  used,  it  does,  not  convey  the  exact  truth, 
but  leads  to  confusion.  When  we  say  that  five 
dollars  in  gold  is  equal  to  five  dollars  in  silver,  we 
do  not  mean  that  there  is  equality  of  quantity  or 
weight,  but  of  value.  Let  us  suppose  that  the 
statement  that  Napoleon  was  equal  to  Milton  is 
true.  An  examination  of  the  two  persons  would 
show  a  difference  of  mental  organization,  so  that 
in  some  respects  one  would  be  found  inferior  to 
the  other,  and  at  the  same  time  superior  in  other 
points  ;  but  the  value  of  the  mental  endowments 


54  ECCE  FEMINA. 

of  one  would  be  equal  to  that  of  the  other. 
The  only  kind  of  equality  that  can  be  said  to 
exist  between  the  sexes,  is  that  which  exists 
between  objects  that  are  unlike.  In  this  sense 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  sexes  are  equal,  although 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing  the  exact  truth. 
The  functions  of  the  heart  are  unlike  those  of 
the  brain,  but  both  organs  are  equally  indispens 
able.  The  interests  of  the  two  sexes  are  so 
completely  interwoven,  that  either  has  a  right  to 
inquire  into  the  nature  and  duties  of  the  other. 
Woman  has  a  perfect  right  to  understand  the 
natural  characteristics  of  man,  as  she  can  justly 
claim  the  performance  of  those  duties  which 
nature  has  evidently  designed  man  for.  The 
male  portion  of  the  community  has  an  equal 
right  to  study  the  character  of  the  other  sex :  in 
fact,  it  is  the  djity  of  both  sexes  to  learn  as  much 
as  possible  about  themselves,  in  order  that  they 
may  the  better  act  the  part  which  God  has 
given  them.  Man's  physical  system  is  larger 
and  stronger  than  woman's  ;  consequently  he  is 
able  to  endure  greater  hardship,  and  is  fitted  to 
perform  the  heavier  kinds  of  labor :  hence  we 
have  aright  to  conclude  that  God  intended  that 
man  should  be  responsible  for  the  performance  of 
all  those  tasks  for  which  he  is  naturally  adapted. 
He  is  bound  to  protect  the  other  sex  against  all 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  55 

violence  ;  and  if  moderate  measures  are  not  suf 
ficient,  he  must  engage  in  active  warfare.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  a  lack  of  delicacy  and 
fineness  in  the  masculine  structure.  Strength 
and  delicacy  do  not  seem  to  be  compatible. 
Perhaps  God  could  have  combined  them ;  but  it 
is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  he  has  not,  except 
in  a  small  degree.  Superiority  in  both  is  not 
found  in  the  same  object.  It  would  be  a  useless 
expense  to  rig  a  ship  with  ropes  of  silk.  So 
Nature  abhors  extravagance. 

If  woman  had  been  made  as  strong  as  man 
and  no  more  delicate,  there  would  have  been 
more  of  one  kind  of  laborers  than  needed,  and  a 
total  lack  in  some  departments.  By  practice,  a 
person  can  learn  to  perform  almost  any  duty  in 
a  certain  manner,  but  superiority  is  only  attained 
by  natural  capabilities ;  or,  in  other  words,  God 
can  prepare  his  agents  for  the  work  he  has  laid 
out  for  them  better  than  man  can.  No  combi 
nation  of  circumstances  could  enable  man  to  h'll 
the  place  of  woman,  yet  he  could  by  practice 
perform  the  physical  duties  of  woman  better 
than  the  mental.  To  make  the  world  complete, 
there  was  need  of  one  sex  adapted  to  the  per 
formance  of  a  great  variety  of  light  but  delicate 
tasks  :  great  strength  was  not  needed,  but  great 
agility  and  delicacy.  It  seems  at  the  first 


56  ECCE  FEMINA. 

thought  rather  strange  that  the  sex  which  bears 
the  children  should  be  weaker  than  the  other  ; 
but  a  quiet  life  and  protection  are  more  neces 
sary  for  this  purpose  than  any  thing  else  ;  and, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  pain  of  child- 
bearing  is  greater  with  those  women  who  have 
a  strong,  muscular  system,  than  with  those  who 
are  more  delicate. 

Among  some  barbarous  and  half-civilized 
nations,  woman  has  been  made  physically  mas 
culine  as  much  as  circumstances  could  make  her 
such.  Experience  has  proved  that  equality  of 
sex  in  this  way  is  by  no  means  desirable.  China 
men  can  perform  all  kinds  of  female  labor  :  they 
preserve  the  distinction  of  sex,  however,  by 
forcing  woman  into  an  unnatural  position.  If 
we  take  China  as  an  illustration,  few  would 
think  it  desirable  to  make  men  effeminate.  The 
progress  of  civilization  has  been  greatest  where 
the  natural  peculiarities  of  the  sexes  have  been 
allowed  full  play,  and  have  not  been  moulded  by 
artificial  means ;  yet  the  distinction  of  sex  has 
been  marked  and  unmistakable.  Where  man 
has  forced  woman  to  perform  the  hard  labor,  he 
has  robbed  her  of  the  ability  to  execute  those 
tender  offices  which  make  home  so  charmincr  in 

O 

civilized  society. 

It  is  not  easy  to  tell  the  exact  relation  which 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  57 

the  mind  bears  to  the  body,  yet  there  is  no  doubt 
that  they  correspond  to  a  certain  extent.  Some 
claim  that  the  texture  of  the  mind  can  be  known 
by  that  of  the  hair.  For  our  purposes,  we  do 
not  care  to  know  just  how  much  truth  there  is 
in  the  various  theories  in  regard  to  mind  and 
body.  This  much  is  certain,  as  a  general  rule, 
they  do  not  contradict,  but  confirm  each  other. 
Out  of  a  hundred  men  with  delicate  physical 
systems,  it  is  a  safe  estimate  to  say  that  the 
minds  of  ninety  of  them  exhibit  a  corresponding 
tendency.  When  we  find  a  woman  with  a 
coarse,  masculine  mind,  we  generally  discover 
the  same  tendency  in  her  physique.  No  candid 
man  can  deny  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the  men 
tal  characteristics  of  the  sexes  correspond  to  the 
physical.  Circumstances  have  never  been  found 
powerful  enough  to  reduce  men  and  women  to 
the  same  physical  standard.  The  same  is  true 
in  regard  to  the  mind ;  and,  considering  the 
importance  of  these  two  facts,  are  we  not  justi 
fied  in  concluding  that  circumstances  never  can 
make  the  minds  of  men  and  women  alike  ? 

For  scientific  purposes,  the  most  unfavorable 
case  is  that  when  the  observed  object  can  be  ex 
amined  at  only  one  period  of  development.  The 
difficulties  are  comparatively  few  where  there 
can  be  an  examination  at  any  stage,  as  is  the 


EOCE  FEMINA. 
case  with  -the  human  mind.     But  the  workings 

O 

of  the  mind  are  not  easily  noted,  as  they  are 
known  only  by  their  effects.  In  the  comparison 
of  the  sexes,  however,  there  is  much  less  diffi 
culty  than  in  the  investigation  of  individual 
minds,  as  we  are  only  called  upon  to  note  differ 
ences.  There  has  not  been  any  scientific  inves 
tigation  of  this  subject,  but  there  is  a  good 
chance  to  make  one ;  yet  there  are  enough  facts 
known  to  the  public  by  general  observation  to 
justify  what  we  have  to  say. 

In  early  childhood  the  face  gives  no  intelli 
gible  indication  of  sex  ;  while  at  the  age  of  ten 
the  countenance  of  a  boy  can  generally  be  distin 
guished  from  that  of  a  girl.  Even  when  there 
has  been  no  difference  of  outside  influence,  there 
is  then  discernible  a  difference  in  the  minds  of 
the  two  sexes.  The  mental  movements  of  the 
girl  are  quicker  than  those  of  the  boy,  who  is 
more  inclined  to  acquire  knowledge  by  slow  and 
steady  movements.  This  subject  could  be  best 
studied  in  the  case  of»  twins,  who  would  exhibit 
little  but  sexual  difference.  Those  who  reject 
the  popular  belief  in  regard  to  the  minds  of  the 
sexes,  might  try  the  experiment  by  keeping  one 
hundred  pairs  of  twins  under  the  same  influence 
until  they  reach  the  age  of  twenty.  We  are 
confident  that  the  sex  of  mind  would  be  found 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  59 

more  marked  than  that  of  the  physique.  From 
the  age  of  ten  to  twenty,  the  outward  appear 
ance  and  the  minds  of  the  sexes  show  a  constant 
progress  in  the  diverging  process.  We  do 
not  feel  called  upon  to  prove  that  the  mental 
distinction  of  sex  cannot  be  eradicated  by  edu 
cation,  since  there  has  never  been  any  attempt 
in  the  shape  of  proof  to  overthrow  the  existing 
opinion.  We  are  only  offering  some  consider 
ations  to  substantiate  the  general  belief.  It 
does  no  good  to  point  out  exceptional  cases,  as 
the  principles  on  which  woman  enters  political 
life,  if  she  does,  must  be  founded  upon  what  is 
true  of  the  majority.  There  are  some  women 
who  have  greater  physical  strength  than-  the 
average  of  men,  but  we  can  not  generalize  from 
such  facts. 

The  minds  of  men  and  women  correspond 
with  their  bodies.  Those  of  the  former  are 
strong,  coarse,  and  slow  ;  those  of  the  latter, 
while  they  have  less  strength,  have  superiority 
in  quality  and  rapidity.  Hence  we  find  equal 
values  in  different  forms.  Woman's  mind  is 
not  made  to  grapple  with  hard,  tough  problems  ; 
but  she  can  perform  those  mental  tasks  that 
come  within  her  sphere  with  celerity,  accuracy, 
ease,  and  grace.  A  great  share  of  the  studies 
that  come  within  a  college  course  are  as  well 

O 


60  ECCE  FEMINA. 

adapted  to  one  sex  as  the  other,  yet  there  are 
some  that  belong  more  properly  to  one.  For 
the  sake  of  mental  discipline,  however,  *there 
need  be  no  distinction,  as  the  minds  of  both 
sexes  should  be  made  as  broad  and  comprehen 
sive  as  possible.  In  real  life,  it  would  be  an 
expensive  waste  of  strength  to  employ  any  per 
son  or  class  of  persons  in  the  performance  of 
duties  that  do  not  harmonize  with  the  mind  of 
the  laborer  when  there  are  others  that  do.  The 
best  guide  in  this  matter  is  probably  the  incli 
nations  of  the  individuals. 

In  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  the  flexibility 
and  celerity  of  the  female  mind  enables  woman 
to  surpass  man  in  some  branches  ;  while  in  others, 
which  require  a  slow  and  strong  movement  of 
the  mind,  the  male  has  the  advantage.  As  the 
clumsy  fingers  of  men  are  sometimes  obliged  to 
grant  the  precedence  to  those  that  are  more 
nimble  and  delicate,  so  the  keen,  delicate  mind 
of  woman  perceives  and  seizes  many  things  that 
escape  the  notice  of  the  other  sex.  It  is  an 
admitted  principle  in  philosophy,  that  what  is 
gained  in  power  is  lost  in  time.  Out  of  the 
same  material  we  can  make  a  short,  strong  rope 
or  a  long,  slender  one.  The  carriage-horse 
moves  his  light  load  along  with  great  speed  ; 
while  another  makes  but  slow  progress,  as  he  has 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  61 

a  heavy  load  to  drag.  A  horse  that  is  good  for 
one  purpose  is  of  little  service  for  another, 
although  the  value  of  the  horse  may  be  the 
same  as  that  of  another  kind.  The  Creator 
did  not  bestow  all  his  blessings  upon  one  sex, 
and  leave  the  other  destitute.  If,  in  addition  to 
what  woman  can  now  do,  she  could  compete 
successfully  with  man  where  he  now  has  the 
pre-eminence,  she  would  not  be  his  equal, 
but  his  superior.  There  is  no  danger  of  this, 
as  God  has  provided  a  regular  system  of  compen 
sation  ;  so  that,  when  one  person  covets  what 
he  has  not,  with  the  idea  that  it  is  better  than 
that  already  possessed,  he  loses  the  old  in  acquir 
ing  the  new.  Every  person  has  a  certain  amount 
of  vital  power,  and  any  portion  of  it  that  is 
expended  for  one  purpose  cannot  be  used  for 
another.  If  this  force  is  applied  to  many 
objects,  there  can  be  but  little  at  any  one  point : 
if  to  a  few,  it  will  be  great.  The  doctrine  of 
the  conservation  and  correlation  of  forces  is 
one  of  the  greatest  truths  of  modern  philos 
ophy,  and  should  be  studied  and  understood  by 
all  who  use  their  bodies  or  their  rninds.  When 
a  man  buys  ten  bushels  of  oats,  and  feeds  out 
nine,  he  knows  that  he  has  but  one  left ;  yet 
we  have  educated  men  and  women  who  con 
sume  or  use  up  nine-tenths  of  their  mental  pow- 


62  ECCE  FEMINA. 

ers  for  one  purpose,  and  then  think  that  they 
have  as  much  left  that  can  be  used  for  other 
objects.  They  do  not  know  that  what  is  unseen 
is  governed  by  the  same  laws  as  matter  that  can 
be  measured  by  the  senses. 

Women  ought  not  to  think  themselves  slan 
dered  if  they  are  told  that  they  are  inferior  to 
men  in  some  mental  characteristics  ;  for  this  very 
statement  carries  with  it  the  admission  that  they 
are  superior  to  men  in  gifts  of  another  nature. 
It  is  much  better  to  seek  for  a  philosophical 
explanation  of  facts  than  it  is  to  deny  them. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  make  an  egg  stand  on  end 
after  we  know  how.  For  the  discovery  of  great 
philosophical  truths,  the  slow,  steady  strength  of 
the  masculine  mind  is  necessary.  The  per 
formance  of  such  duties  cannot  be  well  accom 
plished  by  the  mind  of  woman.  Her  superior 
ity  is  in  another  direction.  On  this  subject  we 
find  the  following  admission  by  Mill:  u  Let  us 
take,  then,  the  only  marked  case  which  observa 
tion  affords  of  apparent  inferiority  of  women  to 
men,  if  we  except  the  merely  physical  one  of 
bodily  strength.  No  production  in  philosophy, 
science,  or  art,  entitled  to  the  first  rank,  has 
been  the  work  of  woman.  Is  there  any  mode 
of  accounting  for  this,  without  supposing  that 
women  are  naturally  incapable  of  producing 
them? 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  63 


"  If  we  consider  the  works  of  women  in 
modern  times,  and  contrast  them  with  those  of 
men,  either  in  the  literary  or  the  artistic  depart 
ment,  such  inferiority  as  may  be  observed 
resolves  itself  essentially  into  one  thing :  but 
that  is  a  most  material  one, —  deficiency  of 
originality,  not  total  deficiency  ;  for  every  pro 
duction  of  mind  which  is  of  any  substantial 
value  has  an  originality  of  its  own,  —  is  a  con 
ception  of  the  mind  itself,  not  a  copy  of  some 
thing  else.  Thoughts  original,  in  the  sense  of 
beino-  unborrowed,  —  of  beino;  derived  from  the 

O  ?5 

thinker's  own  observations  or  intellectual  pro 
cesses,  —  are  abundant  in  the  writings  of  women. 
But  they  have  not  yet  produced  any  of  those 
great  and  luminous  new  ideas  which  form  an 
era  in  thought,  nor  those  fundamentally  new  con 
ceptions  in  art,  which  open  a  vista  of  possible 
effects  not  before  thought  of,  and  found  a  new 
school.  Their  compositions  are  mostly  grounded 
on  the  existing  fund  of  thought,  and  their  cre 
ations  do  not  deviate  widely  from  existing  types. 
This  is  the  sort  of  inferiority  which  their  works 
manifest  ;  for,  in  point  of  execution,  in  the  de 
tailed  application  of  thought,  and  the  perfection 
of  style,  there  is  no  inferiority.  Our  best  nov 
elists,  in  point  of  composition  and  of  the  man- 


64  ECCE  FEMINA. 

agement  of  detail,  have  mostly  been  women  ; 
and  there  is  not  in  all  modern  literature  a  more 
eloquent  vehicle  of  thought  than  the  style  of 
Madame  de  Stael,  nor,  as  a  specimen  of  purely 
artistic  excellence,  any  thing  superior  to  the 
prose  of  Madame  Sand,  whose  style  acts  upon 
the  nervous  system  like  a  symphony  of  Hadyn  or 
Mozart.  High  originality  of  conception  is,  as 
I  have  said,  what  is  chiefly  wanting.  And  now 
to  examine  if  there  is  any  manner  in  which  this 
deficiency  can  be  accounted  for."  (pp.  126-129.) 
In  trying  to  explain  facts  according  to  his 
theory,  Mill  has  really  done  woman  injustice. 
After  the  success  which  women  have  achieved 
in  the  literary  world,  it  cannot  truthfully  be 
said  that  they  are  less  original  than  men.  It 
is  a  fact  that  their  writings  are  generally  unlike 
those  of  men :  hence  they  must  have  an  origin 
ality  of  their  own.  If  Mill  would  admit  the 
dissimilarity  between  the  minds  of  the  two  sexes, 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  explaining  the 
facts  which  he  mentions.  Mill  endeavors  to 
explain  the  fact  that  woman  has  not  been  a  dis 
coverer  in  philosophy  and  science,  by  saying 
that  she  has  not  had  a  chance,  except  within 
the  past  three  generations.  If  we  grant  this, 
it  is  evident  that  his  explanation  is  worthless, 
from  the  fact  that  woman  lias  been  engaged 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  Go 

in  the  literary  world  long  enough  to  attain  emi 
nence  in  other  departments.  Women  have 
studied  philosophy  and  science  as  well  as  men  ; 
but  not  as  much,  for  the  simple  reason  that'their 
taste  has  led  them  in  a  different  direction.  A 
person's  inclination  usually  leads  the  individual 
where  the  mind  is  most  fully  developed.  In  the 
discovery  of  philosophical  truth,  the  slow,  steady 
strength  of  the  masculine  is  necessary  ;  while 
"  in  point  of  execution,  in  the  detailed  applica 
tion  of  thought,  and  the  perfection  of  style," 
woman  is  not  merely  what  Mill  claims,  —  equal 
to  man,  —  but  superior.  What  man  ever  wrote 
like  Madame  de  Stael  ?  The  originality  of 
woman  is  of  one  kind,  that  of  man  of  another. 
Man  is  the  best  judge  of  the  true  ;  woman,  of  the 
beautiful.  Truth  and  beauty  are  not  the  same, 
but  they  always  harmonize.  The  rough  ma 
terialism  of  the  age  makes  the  latter  seem  sub 
ordinate  to  the  former,  while  Nature  teaches  that 
they  are  of  equal  importance.  It  is  a  fact  that 
man  was  made  before  woman  ;  it  is  also  a  fact 
that  the  rough  frame  of  the  house  is  constructed 
before  it  is  painted,  decorated,  and  furnished  with 
that  which  renders  it  pleasing,  attractive,  and 
beautiful.  If  we  were  to  be  deprived  of  every 
thing  that  has  any  degree  of  beauty,  and  some 
thing  equally  useful  were  to  be  substituted  in 


66  ECCE  FEMINA. 

place,  we  would  soon  learn  how  much  we  had  lost. 
There  is  scarcely  any  thing  without  a  degree  of 
beauty.  Those  dreary  dungeons  and  desolate 
placed,  which  are  so  much  dreaded  by  all,  are 
such  not  from  any  positive  attributes,  but  simply 
from  the  absence  of  beauty.  Man  is  the  pioneer, 
and  must  necessarily  play  the  most  important 
part  in  a  new  country.  When  young  America 
is  older,  there  will  be  less  noise  about  railroads 
and  other  improvements,  that  are  all-important 
and  necessary  now ;  and  there  will  not  be  so 
much  temptation  for  women  to  engage  in  mas 
culine  duties.  Matters  that  are  on  the  mind  of 
everybody  now  will  be  of  little  consequence  one 
or  two  hundred  years  hence.  We  may  need  a 
man's  rights  society  by  that  time. 

In  works  of  the  imagination,  the  masculine  is 
readily  distinguished  from  the  feminine  mind. 
The  strength  and  boldness  of  man,  as  exhibited 
in  a  masterpiece  of  fiction,  is  quite  unlike  that 
of  woman  in  the  same  department.  No  woman 
could  have  conceived  "  Paradise  Lost."  In  "The 
Toilers  of  the  Sea,"  Victor  Hugo  portrays  the 
rough  strength  and  giant-like  efforts  of  his  hero, 
as  he  struggles  to  overcome  the  powers  of  nature, 
as  none  but  a  strong,  intellectual  man  could.  If 
the  author's  name  is  not  known,  the  reading  of 
a  novel  generally  discloses  the  sex  of  the  writer. 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  67 

Of  course,  there  are  some  works  of  fiction  which 
come  so  near  the  line,  that  the  masculine  or 
feminine  mind  is  not  prominent ;  but  such  is  not 
generally  the  case  with  works -of  merit.  In  fic 
tion,  female  writers  can  paint  the  tender  and 
delicate  feelings  of  the  human  heart  better  than 
men  can.  A  woman's  power  of  intense  feelings 
also  enables  her  to  portray  faithfully  that  of 
others,  and  she  is  able  to  engage  our  sympathies 
in  matters  that  would  escape  the  notice  of  a 
male  writer.  No  man  could  have  written 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  or  "  Jane  Eyre."  The 
distinctive  characteristics  of  the  sexes  in  works 
of  the  imagination  is  so  well  known,  and  so 
generally  admitted,  that  it  does  not  seem  to  be 
necessary  to  examine  the  subject  at  length.  In 
poetry  and  novel  writing,  the  imagination  is 
prominent,  althought  other  faculties  are  required. 
In  poetry  especially,  we  would  expect  the  sexes 
to  coincide,  if  in  any  department  of  literature. 
There  are  separate  pieces  that  exhibit  no  signs 
of  the  sex  of  the  writer  ;  yet,  when  the  works  of 
one  writer  are  examined  together,  this  is  not  the 
case  generally. 

The  reasoning  powers  of  man  are  superior  to 
those  of  woman  ;  or,  more  properly,  where  there 
is  a  combination  of  circumstances,  and  several 
matters  are  to  be  weighed  and  compared,  the 


68  ECCE  FEMINA. 

masculine  mind  is  most  reliable.  Where  there 
is  no  complication,  and  a  decision  must  be  ren 
dered  at  once,  and  almost  by  instinct,  the  mind 
of  woman  is  superior  to  that  of  man.  It  is 
necessary  for  the  statesman  to  go  through  the 
most  tedious  methods  of  investigation,  compare 
results,  and  be  able  to  sustain  his  own  position 
and  refute  that  of  his  adversary.  In  financial 
matters,  there  is  the  greatest  complication,  and 
consequent  difficulty,  in  arranging  every  thing 
harmoniously,  even  when  there  is  no  dispute  in 
regard  to  the  end  to  be  attained.  In  politics, 
there  is  a  great  amount  of  drudgery  and  hard 
labor,  and  little  romance.  But  very  few  women 
would  take  delight  or  interest  in  performing  the 
duties  of  a  congressman.  If  women  are  as  well 
adapted  to  politics  as  men,  then  they  would  suc 
ceed  as  well  alone  as  men.  We  ask  any  candid 
woman  how  she  thinks  that  a  congress,  com 
posed  entirely  of  women,  would  succeed,  even 
if  we  were  to  give  them  the  same  chance  of  pre 
paration  that  men  now  have.  How  would  they 
manage  the  finances?  Would  it  not  be  rather 
hard  for  those  to  deliberate  who  naturally  wisli 
to  decide  at  once?  The  duties  of  legislators  are 
greater  tllan  their  privileges.  Statesmanship 
requires  something  besides  the  ability  to  deliver 
popular  lyceurn  lectures. 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  69 

But  the  most  marked  distinction  in  the  sexes 
is  in  regard. to  the  feelings.  In  man  they  are 
subordinate,  in  woman  supreme.  The  warm, 
sympathetic  heart  of  a  woman  exerts  a  powerful 
influence  over  her  whole  being,  and  inspires 
those  around  her.  Man  is  cool  and  calculating, 
and  generally  compels  his  sympathies  to  yield 
to  his  judgment.  The  virtues  and  failings  of 
one  sex  are  unlike  those  of  the  other,  and  on 
this  account  they  are  admirably  adapted  to  cor 
rect  each  other.  In  spite  of  the  sneers  of  the 
Innovators,  who  can  deny  that  the  wisdom  and 
goodness  of  the  Creator  is  seen  in  the  adapta 
tion  of  the  sexes  to  their  present  relations? 
The  prompt  method  of  deciding,  and  the  mag 
netic,  tender  nature  of  woman,  render  her  the 
charm  and  queen  of  home.  No  other  qualities 
could  serve  her  so  well,  and  enable  her  to 
promptly  and  tenderly  perform  her  duties.  Yet 
these  virtues  render  her  unfit  to  face  and  contend 
with  the  outside  world.  She  cannot  make  an 
impartial  judge  in  the  complicated  affairs  of  the 
public,  because  her  sympathies  are  so  strong 
that  one  or  two  unimportant  facts  which  coincide 
with  her  feelings  are  sufficient  to  outweigh  more 
important  considerations.  She  would  not  always 
make  mistakes,  to  be  sure ;  yet  she  would  be 
much  more  liable  to  do  so  than  man. /'If  she 

I 


70  ECCE  FEMINA. 

had  the  same  physical  strength  that  man  has, 
she  could  not  well  perform  the  duties  of  an 
officer,  and  arrest  a  criminal,  perhaps  to  tear  him 
from  his  family  and  put  him  in  prison.  Any 
duty  of  this  kind  would  be  a  violent  abuse  of 
her  tender,  sensitive  nature.  So,  in  conducting 
the  greater  part  of  masculine  affairs,  there  is  a 
certain  degree  of  rigor  required  which  is  incom 
patible  with  female  character.  The  stern  nature 
of  man  enables  him  to  move  undisturbed  throuo;h 

O 

the  varied  scenes  which  surround  him.  Unless 
he  is  restrained  by  the  good  and  salutary  influ 
ence  of  a  wife,  he  is  liable  to  become  heartless, 
and  allow  his  schemes  to  eradicate  every  tender 
feeling  of  his  heart.  On  the  other  hand,  woman 
sometimes  allows  her  affections  to  do  violence  to 
her  intellect.  Her  likes  and  dislikes  are  very 
strong.  The  delicate,  sensitive  nature  of 
woman  needs  to  be  protected  and  kept  from 
contact  with  all  that  is  rough  and  harsh.  Nature 
teaches  that  delicacy  involves  the  danger  of 
being  easily  injured,  unless  provided  witli  means 
of  protection.  A  particle  of  dust  would  injure 
the  eye  or  the  lungs,  while  it  would  not  be  felt 
by  the  hand.  There  would  be  as  much  sense 
in  disregarding  the  nature  of  the  several  parts 
of  the  human  body  as  there  is  in  disregarding 
the  nature  of  the  elements  of  which  human 
society  is  composed. 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  71 

• 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  women 
are  naturally  better  and  more  moral  than  men. 
The  preponderance  of  the  feelings  renders 
woman  a  strong  sympathetic  chord  in  society ; 
and,  when  she  is  placed  in  favorable  circum 
stances,  she  is  able  to  overpower  sterner  man 
with  her  attractions.  If  she  has  been  nurtured 
and  developed  by  good  influences,  she  will  make 
man  better  and  nobler ;  if  the  contrary  is  true, 
her  power  to  lead  him  to  ruin  is  indeed  great. 
She  is  large-hearted,  hence  more  susceptible  of 
outward  impressions  than  man,  and  can  be  more 
easily  influenced  to  good  or  evil.  The  same 
power  which  will  inspire  her  with  the  truest, 
noblest,  and  purest  purposes,  will  scarcely  move 
the  heart  of  man.  But  it  is  impossible  that  a 
person  or  sex  should  be  so  constituted  as  to  be 
easily  led  in  one  direction  without  a  correspond 
ing  danger  of  being  led  in  the  other.  We  have 
become  accustomed  to  think  that  women  are 
naturally  better  than  men,  because  they  are  so 
as  we  generally  find  them.  We  also  find  that 
they  have  been  under  better  influences,  and  less 
subject  to  temptation.  Whenever  they  have 
been  placed  within  the  reach  of  the  powers  of 
evil,  they  have  not  become  moderately  bad,  but 
have  rushed  at  once  to  lowest  depths  of  wicked 
ness  and  degradation.  The  facts  of  history  are 


72  ECCE  FEMINA. 

sufficient  proof  that  there  is  no  difference  in  the 
natural  depravity  of  the  sexes,  except  that  their 
vices  are  of  different  kinds.  If  women  remain 
in  their  present  position,  they  will  continue  to 
exert  a  great  influence  for  good  over  men  ;  but, 
if  they  are  placed  where  they  are  subject  to  the 
same  temptations  as  the  other  sex,  they  are  so 
quick  to  learn,  that  they  will  exert  as  strong  an 
influence  in  another  direction.  Women,  as  they 
are  found  in  the  dens  of  infamy  in  our  cities, 
give  evidence  that  they  are  capable  of  the  most 
revolting  forms  of  wickedness.  The  surest 
method  of  increasing  crime  and  misery  is  to 
mingle  the  sexes  indiscriminately  in  politics. 

Notwithstanding  what  John  Stuart  Mill  says, 
we  consider  women  good  witnesses ;  hence,  in 
regard  to  the  characteristics  of  the  sexes,  we 
quote  Mrs.  Jameson :  "  We  hear  it  asserted, 
not  seldom  by  way  of  compliment  to  us  women, 
that  intellect  is  of  no  sex.  If  this  mean  that  the 
same  faculties  of  mind  are  common  to  men  and 
women,  it  is  true :  in  any  other  signification  it  ap 
pears  to  me  false,  and  the  reverse  of  a  compliment. 
The  intellect  of  woman  bears  the  same  relation 
to  that  of  man  as  her  physical  organization :  it 
is  inferior  in  power,  and  different  in  kind.  That 
certain  women  have  surpassed  certain  men  in 
bodily  strength  or  intellectual  energy  does  not 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  73 

contradict  the  general  principle  founded  in 
nature.  The  essential  and  invariable  distinc 
tion  appears  to  me  this  :  in  men,  the  intellect 
ual  faculties  exist  more  self-poised  and  self- 
directed,  more  independent  of  the  rest  of  the 
character,  than  we  ever  find  them  in  women, 
with  whom  talent,  however  predominant,  is  in  a 
much  greater  degree  modified  by  the  sympathies 
and  moral  qualities."  (Essay  on  Portia.) 

The  position  which  we  have  taken  in  regard 
to  the  relative  characteristics  of  the  sexes  is 
either  true  or  false.  If  any  one  admits  that 
women  are  in  some  respects  superior  to  men,  it 
is  necessary  to  grant  that  men  are  superior  in 
others  ;  otherwise  it  will  follow  that  women  are, 
on  the  whole,  superior  to  men.  Perhaps  some 
believe  this,  but  they  have  not  yet  made  it  a 
part  of  the  creed  of  the  Innovators.  If  Mill 
really  proves  all  that  he  attempts,  it  wrould  be 
necessary  to  conclude  tliat  women  are  superior ; 
for  he  claims  that  they  are  in  certain  qualities, 
while  he  endeavors  to  explain  away  any  appar 
ent  superiority  on  the  part  of  men.  There  has 
been  enough  of  generalities.  If  women  are 
adapted  to  political  life,  as  well  as  men,  what 
are  the  particular  characteristics  which  fit  her  for 
that  life,  and  wherein  is  the  foregoing  incorrect  ? 
We  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  candid  person 


74  ECCE  FEMINA. 

living  who  really  thinks,  that,  in  all  respects, 
the  minds  of  the  sexes  are  naturally  precisely 
alike.  If  their  minds  are  unlike,  and  at  the 
same  time  equal,  there  must  be  inferiority  in 
some  qualities  combined  with  superiority  in 
others ;  hence  a  natural  unfitness  for  some 
duties,  while  there  is  an  adaptation  to  others. 
In  other  words,  man  is  adapted  to  one  sphere  of 
action,  woman  to  another.  There  should  be  no 
squeamishness  on  this  point ;  the  Innovators 
should  maintain  that  the  minds  of  the  sexes  are 
exactly  alike,  or  they  cannot  logically  avoid 
concluding  that  there  is  a  separate  sphere  for 
each  sex.  At  the  present  time,  they  claim  that 
woman  should  occupy  any  position  that  man 
may,  not  excepting  the  pulpit. 

The  Innovators  have  made  a  great  noise 
about  the  "  prejudice  "  of  their  opponents.  If 
a  man,  for  instance,  is  charged  with  prejudice 
against  color,  he  tries  to  defend  himself  by  assert 
ing  that  his  notions  are  founded  on  a  law  of 
nature.  Now,  another  man  may  be  called  upon 
to  defend  a  genuine  principle  of  truth,  and  all 
that  he  can  fairly  be  expected  to  do  is  to  show 
that  it  rests  upon  a  law  of  nature.  The  former 
is  prejudiced,  because  his  belief  is  founded  on 
something  that  does  not  exist ;  the  latter  is 
not,  because  he  has  rational  grounds  for  his 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  /O 

convictions.  In  regard  to  the  sexes,  the  Inno 
vators  are  the  ones  who  are  really  prejudiced,  as 
they  blindly  disregard  and  ridicule  a  principle 
that  is  founded  on  a  law  of  the  Creator. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  sentiment  is 
universal,  that  some  qualities  are  appropriate  and 
becoming  when  found  in  one  sex,  while  they  are 
not  when  found  in  the  -other.  All  justly  dislike 
a  masculine  woman,  and  hold  in  contempt  an 
effeminate  man.  It  cannot  be  said  that  this 
originated  from  any  disrespect  to  the  female  sex, 
as  the  principle  is  applied  unsparingly  to  both 
sexes.  If  the  characteristics  were  ignoble  in 

O 

themselves,  they  would  be  odious  if  found  in 
either  sex.  If  it  can  be  truthfully  said  that 
man  has  a  moral  nature,  and  instinctively  re 
gards  some  actions  as  just  and  others  as  unjust, 
it  can  be  asserted  with  equal  truth  that  he  has 
an  innate  idea  of  the  u  fitness  of  things. " 

O 

Incongruity  is  as  displeasing  to  our  minds  as  dis 
cord  is  to  the  sense  of  hearing.  If  we  could  not 

O 

know  at  once,  with  a  tolerable  degree  of  accu 
racy,  how  to  adapt  means  to  an  end,  we  should 
be  obliged  to  waste  our  strength  in  countless 
experiments.  We  do  not  care  how  much  of 
this  is  intuitive,  and  how  much  acquired.  We 
have  the  principle  in  our  minds,  at  all  events. 
No  reform  can  succeed  which  overlooks  these 
primary  truths. 


76  ECCE  FEMIXA 

John  Stuart  Mill  begs  the  question  on  the 
very  title-page  of  his  book,  for  he  assumes  the 
subjection  of  women.  How  is  he  to  convince 
his  opponents  when  he. assumes  in  the  first  part 
of  his  argument  that  the  present  system  "  entirely 
subordinates  the  weaker  sex  to  the  stronger ''  ? 
The  italics  are  ours.  At  another  time  we  will 
mention  some  facts  which  show  that  this  is  not 
true.  Whether  true  or  false,  Mill  had  no  right 
to  assume  that  point  without  adducing  facts  to 
support  his  theory  f  this  was  -especially  needed  in 
this  case,  since  his  assertion  is  contrary  to  gen 
eral  opinion.  Of  course  this  flaw  vitiates  all  his 
arguments  which  are  founded  on  this  assump 
tion. 

"  I  consent  that  established  custom,  and  gen 
eral  feeling,  should  be  deemed  conclusive  against 
me,  unless  that  custom  and  feeling  from  age  to 
ao-e  can  be  shown  to  have  owed  their  existence 

O 

to  other  causes  than  their  soundness,  and  to 
have  derived  their  power  from  the  worse  rather 
than  the  better  parts  of  human  nature."  To 
counterbalance  this  presumption,  we  are  informed 
that  men  and  women  have  never  exchanged 
places,  so  that  we  could  decide  the  question  from 
a  comparison  of  different  methods.  We  grant 
this  ;  but  the  question  is  whether  we  have  not 
discovered  the  truth  without  this  process.  A 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  11 

greater  part  of  the  good  laws  and  customs 
which  prevail  at  the  present  day  have  come 
down  to  us  in  the  same  way.  Some  principles 
are  so  evident  that  no  one  ever  dared  to  dispute 
them.  The  fact  that  we  have  received  some 
wrong  customs  and  laws  from  our  ancestors 
affords  no  presumption  that  any  particular  one  is, 
even  if  the  opposite  theory  has  never  been  tried. 
Mill  asserts  that  "  it  arose  simply  from  the  fact, 
that,  from  the  very  earliest  twilight  of  human 
society,  every  woman  (owing  to  the  value 
attached  to  her  by  men,  combined  with  her 
inferiority  in  muscular  strength)  was  found  in 
a  state  of  bondage  to  some  man.  Laws,  and 
systems  of  polity,  always  begin  by  recognizing 
the  relations  they  find  already  existing  between 
individuals"  (p.  8).  Is  it  not  a  little  curious  that 
Mill  dares  to  make  such  positive  statements  in 
regard  to  the  dim  past,  while  he  claims  that  no 
one  has  a  right  to  do  more  than  to  conjecture 
about  what  we  see  and  hear  ?  We  have  no 
reason  to  think  that  woman  was  in  a  u  state  of 
bondage"  as  he  asserts,  although  it  is  probable 
that  her  relation  to  man  \vas  something  like 
what  it  is  now.  It  is  probable,  that,  u  in  the 
very  earliest  twilight  of  human  society,"  woman 
occupied  the  position  which  God  intended  she 
should,  as  the  race  had  not  then  gone  far  from 


78  ECCE  FEMINA. 

the  course  which  was  marked  out  for  it  after  the 
curse. 

We  are  informed  that  brute  force  has  been  a 
very  important  element  in  the  history  of  the 
world  ;  and,  as  men  have  more  physical  strength 
than  women,  this  is  said  to  be  the  reason  why 
women  are  in  their  present  position.  This  is 
certainly  a  lame  argument,  unless  there  is  proof 
that  this  force  has  been  used  ayainst  the  female 
sex.  If  men  were  ten  times  as  strong  as  women, 
it  would  make  no  difference,  unless  that  strength 
was  used  to  crush  them.  The  fact  that  some 
barbarous  tribes  have  kept  women  in  subjection 
by  brute  force  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for 
the  customs  of  all  nations  in  every  age.  The 
truth  is,  that,  since  the  age  of  chivalry,  the  weak 
ness  of  woman  has  been  her  very  best  protec 
tion,  and  she  may  now  abuse  a  man  with  impu 
nity.  It  is  true  that  we  Americans  circulate 
the  story  that  Englishmen  beat  their  wives  ;  but 
this  is  probably  intended  for  a  take-off  on  the 
gravity  of  John  Bull.  Perhaps  some  English 
men  do  ;  but  we  are  not  now  dealing  with  excep 
tions.  There  is  not  the  least  ground  to  claim 
that  the  superior  physical  strength  of  men  has 
any  thing  to  do  with  the  present  relation  of  the 
sexes. 

Mill  then  gives  several  reasons  why  the  bond- 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  79 

age  of  women  would  last  longer  than  other 
forms  of^  slavery.  These  reasons  are  very  good, 
but  really  show  that  there  is  no  subjection  about 
it ;  as  his  statements  are  so  many  proofs  that  the 
relation  of  the  sexes  is  natural,  and  that  the 
bonds  which  unite  them  are  inseparable.  It 
seems  absurd  for  him  to  speak  of  the  facilities 
which  men  have  for  suppressing  an  insurrection 
of  women,  since  they  have  never  manifested  a 
disposition  to  occupy  any  other  position  than 
that  which  they  now  have.  This  is  only  one  of 
the  blunders  which  he  makes  from  assuming 
that  women  are  in  a  state  of  subjection  to  men. 
After  speaking  of  the  power  of  oppressors,  and 
the  difficulty  of  conquering  them,  he  adds, 
"  Some  will  object,  that  a  comparison  cannot 
fairly  be  made  between  the  government  of  the 
male  sex  and  the  forms  of  unjust  power  which  I 
have  adduced  in  illustration  of  it,  since  these 
are  arbitrary,  and  the  effect  of  mere  usurpation, 
while  it,  on  the  contrary,  is  natural.  But  was 
there  ever  any  domination  which  did  not  appear 
natural  to  those  who  possessed  it?  There  was 
a  time  when  the  division  of  mankind  into  two 
classes  —  a  small  one  of  masters  and  a  numer 
ous  one  of  slaves  —  appeared,  even  to  the  most 
cultivated  minds,  to  be  a  natural,  and  the  only 
natural,  condition  of  the  human  race  "  (p.  20). 


80  ECCE  FEMINA. 

The  fault  of  this  comparison  is,  that  women 
themselves  regard  their  condition  as*natural ; 
and  that  never  was  true  of  a  race  of  slaves. 
If  only  the  men  considered  the  present  relation 
of  the  sexes  natural,  his  illustration  might  be 
worth  something. 

Mill  speaks  in  commendation  of  the  select 
few  women  who  have  sense  enough  to  stand 
up  for  their  rights,  and  then  adds,  "  How  many 
more  women  there  are  who  silently  cherish  sim 
ilar  aspirations,  no  one  can  possibly  know  ;  but 
there  are  abundant  tokens  how  many  would 
cherish  them,  were  they  not  so  strenuously 
taught  to  repress  them  as  contrary  to  the  pro 
prieties  of  their  sex.  It  must  be  remembered, 
also,  that  no  enslaved  class  ever  asked  for  com 
plete  liberty  at  once  "  (p.  25).  If  any  one 
should  read  this  two  hundred  years  hence,  he 
would  conclude  that  the  women  of  our  age 
were  in  as  bad  a  condition  as  those  of  Turkey. 
He  would  think  that  they  were  not  allowed  to 
learn  enough  to  be  able  to  read  the  Bible,  but 
were  placed  under  the  charge  of  men  whose 
duty  it  was  to  teach  them  the  respect  due  to 
men,  and  the  homage  they  must  pay  them  at 
all  times  ;  and  that  the  only  freedom  of  thought 
was  that  which  "  silently "  passed  through 
their  minds.  The  truth  is  this :  the  women  are 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  81 

the  teachers  of  men ;  and,  as  a  general  rule,  all 
boys  and  girls  receive  their  most  lasting  impres 
sions  from  their  mothers  and  female  teachers, 
who  have  it  in  their  power  to  revolutionize  the 
opinions  of  the  world  in  the  course  of  a  single 
generation  ;  and  they  could  do  it  so  quietly  that 
men  would  hardly  know  how  it  had  been 
effected. 

We  have  examined  the  leading  points  in 
Mill's  argument  to  the  29th  page,  where  he  con 
cludes  that  "  the  preceding  considerations  are 
amply  sufficient  to  show  that  custom,  however 
universal  it  may  be,  affords  in  this  case  no  pre 
sumption,  and  ought  not  to  create  any  preju 
dice,  in  favor  of  the  arrangements  which  place 
\  ° 

women  in  social  and  political  subjection  to  men. 
For  what  is  the  peculiar  char 
acter  of  the  modern  world  —  the  difference 
which  chiefly  distinguishes  modern  institutions, 
modern  social  ideas,  modern  life  itself,  from 
those  of  times  long  past  ?  It  is,  that  human 
beings  are  no  longer  born  to  their  place  in  life, 
and  chained  down  by  an  inexorable  bond  to 
the  place  they  are  born  to,  but  are  free  to 
employ  their  faculties,  and  such  favorable 
chances  as  offer,  to  achieve  the  lot  which  may 
appear  to  them  most  desirable.  Human  society 
of  old  was  constituted  on  a  very  different  prin- 


82  ECCE  FEMINA. 

ciple.  All  were  born  to  a  fixed  social  position, 
and  were  mostly  kept  in  it  by  law,  or  inter 
dicted  from  any  means  by  which  they  could 
emerge  from  it." 

Again  :  "  It  is  not  that  all  processes  are  sup 
posed  to  be  equally  good,  or  all  persons  to  be 
equally  qualified  for  every  thing ;  but  that 
freedom  of  individual  choice  is  now  known  to 
be  the  only  thing  which  procures  the  adoption 
of  the  best  processes,  and  throws  each  opera 
tion  into  the  hands  of  those  who  are  best 
qualified  for  it.  Nobody  thinks  it  necessary  to 
make  a  law  that  only  a  strong-armed  man  shall 
be  a  blacksmith.  Freedom  and  competition 
suffice  to  make  blacksmiths  strong-armed  men  ; 
because  the  weak-armed  caif  earn  more  by 
engaging  in  occupations  for  which  they  are 
more  fit."  (p.  32). 

"  One  thing  we  may  be  certain  of:  that  what 
is  contrary  to  women's  nature  to  do,  they  never 
will  be  made  to  do  by  simply  giving  their 
nature  free  play.  The  anxiety  of  mankind  to 
interfere  in  behalf  of  Nature,  for  fear  lest 
Nature  should  not  succeed  in  effecting  its  pur 
pose,  is  an  altogether  unnecessary  solicitude. 
What  women  by  nature  cannot  do,  it  is  quite 
superfluous  to  forbid  them  from  doing " 
(p.  48).  At  first,  these  arguments  seem  to  be 


THE  SEXES  COMPARED.  83 

incontrovertible.  If  they  are  applied  to  women 
as  laborers,  they  are  ;  and,  in  fact,  there  are  no 
laws  to  hinder  women  from  engaging  in  nearly 
every  trade  and  profession  that  men  do.  They 
are  kept  out  of  some  positions  solely  by  compe 
tition,  and  the  fact  of  the  natural  adaptability 
of  men  to  perform  some  duties  better  than 
women.  We  agree  with  Mill  so  far,  then,  that 
there  should  be  nothing  done  to  hinder  woman's 
engaging  in  the  same  handicrafts  as  man  ;  for  it 
has  been  settled,  that  these  matters  regulate 
themselves,  and  are  not  subjects  for  legislation. 
Yet,  if  his  argument  is  applied  to  the  political 
status  of  women,  it  proves  too  much.  It  would 
lead  to  the  absurd  conclusion,  that  then  no 
qualification  should  be  required  of  voters  and 
office-holders  ;  so  that  all  persons,  of  all  ages, 
including  children,  should  be  allowed  to  go 
to  the  ballot-box  on  the  ground  that  no  harm 
would  come  from,  a  giving  their  nature  free 
play."  Now,  it  is  granted  by  all,  that  the 
question  who  shall  and  who  shall  not  take  part 
in  government,  is  a  proper  subject  for  legisla 
tion,  and  must  be  decided  on  general  principles. 
In  regard  to  female  suffrage,  the  nature  and 
wishes  of  the  majority  of  women  must  be  taken 
into  consideration.  Laws  are  not  made  for 
exceptions,  as  was  shown  in  the  introduction. 


84  ECCE  FEMINA. 

Notwithstanding  Mill's  ingenuity  and  skill  in 
combining  truth  and  error,  and  ability  to  make 
an  argument  which  is  good  for  one  purpose 
appear  good  for  another,  we  do  not  think  that 
a  candid  judge  of  logical  reasoning  can  claim 
that  he  has,  up  to  this  point,  weakened  the 
presumption  in  favor  of  the  present  system,  or 
created  any  in  favor  of  female  suffrage. 


THE  FAMILY. 


85 


CHAPTER    III. 


THE    FAMILY. 


become  so  familiar  with  some 
things  which  we  come  in  contact 
with  every  day,  that  we  do  not 
recognize  their  importance  ;  and 
often  are  not  aware  of  the  part  which  they 
perform.  Few  people  have  any  idea  of  the 
value  of  air  and  light ;  few  know  any  thing  of 
the  nature  of  their  own  bodies,  or  the  means  of 
keeping  them  in  a  healthy  condition.  It  is  not 
so  strange,  then,  that  the  relation  which  the 
family  bears  to  government  and  society  has 
been  so  imperfectly  understood  by  the  Inno 
vators.  Some  philosophers  get  so  wise,  that 
they  overlook  commonplace  matters,  and  un 
dertake  to  remove  the  evils  of  society  by  some 
new  and  marvellous  method,  when  they  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  cause  of  the  evil  and  nature 
of  the  remedy  needed. 

The  discussion  in  regard  to  female  suffrage  and 
female  labor  has  been  conducted,  for  the  most 


86  ECGE  FEMINA. 

part,  on  the  supposition  that  society  and  gov 
ernment  are  based  upon  the  individuals  of 
which  they  are  composed ;  when,  in  fact,  they 
are  based  upon  the  families.  It  is  true  that  we 
reckon  by  population  in  some  matters  ;  but  this 
is  practically  the  same  thing  where  it  is  used  : 
while  a  great  majority  of  the  laws  and  customs 
of  the  present  time  recognize  the  family  as  a 
basis  in  such  a  way,  that  it  cannot  have  the 
same  effect  as  it  would  to  go  back  to  the  indi 
vidual. 

It  is,  perhaps,  true,  that  society  has  been 
formed  and  government  organized,  without  any 
conscious  recognition  of  the  real  importance  and 
influence  of  the  family,  as  the  existing  circum 
stances  were  generally  provided  for  without 
analyzing  them  into  their  simple  elements.  By 
a  careful  examination  of  the  facts,  it  will  be 
found  that  laws  and  customs  generally  recog 
nize  the  unity  of  the  family,  and  regard  its 
interests  first,  and  those  of  the  individual  second. 
We  shall  try  to  show  that  this  is  as  the  Creator 
intended ;  hence  right,  and  necessary  to  our 
prosperity.  The  Innovators  are  doing  all  in 
their  power  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  family, 
place  the  individual  above  it,  and  degrade  this 
divine  institution  to  the  level  of  a  mere  part 
nership,  to  be  dissolved  at  pleasure.  Perhaps 


THE   FAMILY.  87 

they  do  not  all  wish  or  intend  to  bring  about 
this  result ;  but  we  may  be  able  to  show  that 
the  measures  which  they  advocate  have  that 
tendency.  If  the  family  should  be  swept  out 
of  existence,  and  society  and  government  re 
modelled  without  it,  there  would  be  a  necessity 
of  changing  the  greater  part  of  our  customs 
and  laws. 

It  is  written, "  And  Adam  said, '  This  is  now 
bone  of  my  bone,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  :  she 
shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken 
out  of  man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave 
his  father  and  his  mother  and  shall  cleave  unto 
his  wife  ;  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh.'  '  From 
the  time  that  God  established  the  family,  and 
sanctified  its  unity  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  to 
the  present,  in  all  civilized  countries  its  unity 
has  been  recognized,  and  more  or  less  protected. 
Where  barbarism  has  been  the  strongest,  there 
the  family  relation  has  been  the  most  dese 
crated.  As  the  law  recognizes  the  family  as 
one,  of  course  there  can  be  but  one  represen 
tative  ;  and  as  the  husband  is  the  natural  pro 
tector  of  the  wife,  and  performs  the  greater  part 
of  the  duties  which  bring  the  family  in  contact 
with  the  rest  of  the  world,  there  is  a  natural 
fitness  in  regarding  him  as  the  head,  or  repre 
sentative,  of  this  institution. 


88  ECCE  FEMINA. 

Some  think  that  the  fact  that  the  law  sup 
poses  the  wife  to  be  merged  in  the  husband, 
having  lost  her  own  identity,  is  a  relic  of  bar 
barism,  and  unjust  to  the  wife.  The  truth  is 
this  :  there  is  no  method  of  regarding  the  hus 
band  and  wife  as  one,  without  adopting  this  or 
some  similar  legal  fiction.  As,  in  the  great 
majority  of  families,  the  husband  and  wife  are 
ordinarily  of  one  mind,  they  are  supposed  to  be 
agreed,  as  exceptions  cannot  be  recognized. 
In  ordinary  affairs,  the  wife  can  make  purchases, 
and  the  husband  is  obliged  to  pay  her  bills.  As 
he  has  charge  of  most  of  the  business  concerns, 
he  can  conduct  them  legally  without  her  con 
sent.  This  is  an  advantage  to  her  as  well  as  to 

O 

him  ;  because  it  would  cause  them  much 
trouble,  if  both  were  obliged  to  assent  to  every 
business  transaction  to  make  it  legal.  In 
important  transactions,  however,  when  any 
abuse,  in  exceptional  cases,  would  cause  great 
trouble  and  distress,  the  assent  of  both  is  re 
quired.  We  speak  of  law  as  it  generally  pre 
vails  in  the  United  States. 

When  they  are  regarded  as  individuals, 
justice  demands  that  they  be  treated  alike ; 
that  no  advantage  be  given  to  the  one,  which' 
is  not  to  the  other.  A  reason  which  is  suffi 
cient  for  a  divorce  for  one,  should  be  for  the 


THE  FAMILY.  89 

other.  Any  safeguard  against  abuse,  which  is 
granted  the  wife,  should  be  granted  the  husband. 
In  case  of  death,  there  should  be  a  uniform  law 
in  regard  to  the  property.  But,  in  ordinary 
cases,  the  fact  that  the  husband  is  regarded  as 
the  head  of  the  family,  and  the  wife  is  supposed 
to  have  lost  her  individuality,  is  as  favorable  to 
one  as  the  other.  Any  noisy  declamation 
against  it  is  a  mere  quibble,  as  a  double  mean 
ing  can  be  attached  to  the  language.  The  law 
of  our  Creator,  and  the  best  practice  in  all 
countries,  demand  that  husband  and  wife  be 
recognized  as  one,  by  some  construction  of 
language.  Any  •  legal  recognition  of  their  sep 
arate  interests  in  ordinary  matters  must  have  a 
tendency  to  introduce  discord,  and  degrade  this 
divine  institution  to  the  semblance  of  a  tempo 
rary  partnership. 

The  laws  of  several  States  which  make  pro 
vision  for  the  wife,  so  that  she  can  own  prop 
erty  in  her  own  name,  were  intended  to  relieve 
such  as  had  bad  husbands,  but  have  now  corne  to 
be  adopted  quite  generally  where  there  is  no 
necessity  for  them.  If  a  man  wishes  to  cheat  his 
creditors,  he  puts  his  property  into  his  wife's 
hands,  and  fails  (?).  This  is  a  good  illustration 
of  the  danger  there  is  in  recognizing  and  pro 
viding  for  exceptional  cases  by  legislation. 


90  ECCE  FEMINA. 

Evils  come  in  when  we  do  not  expect  them. 
We  believe  that  there  have  been  a  hundred 
wronged  and  reduced  to  want  by  these  laws, 
where  there  has  been  one  woman  relieved. 
In  framing  laws,  we  must  protect  people  from 
those  evils  which  come  indirectly,  as  well  as  the 
more  immediate.  It  must  be  remembered,  that 
there  are  many  more  husbands  and  wives  who 
will  plot  together  to  wrong  others,  than  there 
are  who  will  injure  each  other. 

English  common  law  is,  in  some  respects, 
unjust  to  the  wife.  In  our  country,  many 
changes  have  been  introduced.  Some  of  them 
have  removed  small  evils,  and  introduced  greater. 
The  most  of  these  laws  are  based  upon  the  sup 
position  that  husband  and  wife  are  two,  not 
one.  We  believe  that  the  common  law  should 
be  modified  so  that  the  wife  would  have  as  good 
a  right  to  property  as  the  husband  ;  but  this  can 
be  done  by  giving  them  a  common,  not  sepa 
rate  interests.  Probably  the  best  method 
of  doing  justice  to  both  would  be  to  make  the 
individual  property  of  each  common  to  both 
after  marriage.  There  could  not  be  much 
chance  for  abuse,  if  the  signature  of  both  was 
required  to  make  a  legal  transfer  of  real  estate, 
and  each  was  allowed  to  dispose  of  personal 
property  without  the  consent  of  the  other. 


THE  FAMILY.  91 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  for  the  law  to  regard 
as  theft  or  embezzlement  any  disposal  of  per 
sonal  property  when  one  of  the  parties  ab 
sconds  with  the  proceeds  of  the  sale.  If  a 
husband  or  wife  kept  any  kind  of  goods  for 
sale,  the  laws  could  be  so  framed  as  to  prevent 
the  disposal  of  them  by  the  other,  with  the 
intent  of  using  the  proceeds  for  selfish  purposes. 
No  law  can  be  so  carefully  framed  as  to  hinder 
crime  and  injustice  entirely.  Laws  that  are 
for  the  general  good  cannot  provide  perfect 
security  for  exceptional  cases;  yet  they  should 
be  based  upon  broad,  general  principles.  The 
Innovators  have  procured  many  changes  by 
going  before  committees,  and  harping  upon  some 
story  of  wrong  done,  which  may  be  true,  but  a 
specimen  of  cases  which  are  very  rare. 

The  good  of  the  masses  cannot  be  provided 
for,  unless  the  unity  and  integrity  of  the  family 
be  preserved.  If,  in  times  past,  the  husband 
has  had  too  much  power,  and  his  separate 
interests  have  been  regarded,  the  evil  is  only 
aggravated  by  giving  the  wife  a  motive  to  con 
tend  with  him,  and  look  out  for  her  individual 
interests.  The  true  method  of  correcting:  this 

O 

is  to  give  the  family  one  common  interest,  and 
make  it  impossible  for  the  husband  to  injure  the 
wife  without  harming  himself,  and  vice  versa. 


92  ECCE  FEMINA. 

Yet  it  will  not  be  best  to  make  too  many  rules 
and  regulations  for  the  family,  as  the  majority 
can  manage  their  own  affairs  better  than  legis 
latures.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  vast 
majority  of  husbands  and  wives  are  united  in 
all  matters  that  come  before  the  law ;  and  on 
that  account  it  would  be  wrong  to  frame  laws 
solely  to  provide  for  the  contingencies  of  a 
minority.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the 
husband  generally  conducts  the  business  of  the 
family,  and  provides  the  means  of  support;  while 
the  wife  has  charge  of  the  household,  and 
applies  the  husband's  earnings  to  their  common 
wants.  His  wages  are  not  simply  payment 
from  the  capitalist  for  his  work,  but  for  his  wife's 
also.  The  money  that  he  earns  belongs  to 
both. 

Doubtless  the  changes  that  have  been  made 
in  the  laws  of  some  States  were  undertaken 
with  good  motives,  and  perhaps  there  have  been 
some  beneficial  results  ;  but  there  have  been  evil 
results  also.  We  sympathize  with  those  who 
wished  to  relieve  women  from  the  power  of 
unjust  legislation ;  yet  we  think  the  good  could 
have  been  accomplished  without  destroying  the 
unity  of  the  family.  We  learn  from  Mrs.  Dall 
that  the  laws  have  been  changed  in  nineteen 
States.  The  extent  of  improvement  we  have 


THE  FAMILY.  93 

not  ascertained.  It  is  our  object  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  public  to  a  few  facts,  that  the 
people  of  each  State  may  examine  their  own 
laws.  As  a  proof  of  the  spirit  which  animates 
some  of  these  reformers  (?),  we  quote  the  fol 
lowing  from  Mrs.  Dall's  lecture  on  "The 
United-States  Law."  "  If  married,  and  over 
the  age  of  eighteen  years,  a  woman  in  Illinois 
may,  in  spite  of  her.  husband,  devise  her  real 
estate,  and  bequeath  her  personal  estate,  to  any 
one  forever."  The  Innovators  complain 
justly  of  any  law  that  enables  the  husband  to 
dispose  of  his  property  "in  spite"  of  his  wife; 
but,  instead  of  removing  this  evil,  they  introduce 
another  to  balance  it.  Mrs.  D.  adds,  "  The 
wife  may  administer  on  her  husband's  estate,  in 
preference  to  all  others,  if  she  apply  within 
sixty  days.  On  her  husband's  death,  she 
inherits  one-half  of  his  real  estate  in  fee-simple 
absolute,  and  the  whole  of  his  personal  estate, 
with  her  rights  of  dower  in  addition."  This 
law,  in  connection  with  others,  does  not  establish 
impartiality,  but  is  more  favorable  to  the  wife 
than  to  the  husband. 

In  the  State  of  New  York,  the  wife  can  own 
and  dispose  of  property  in  her  own  name,  and 
devise  it  by  will  without  her  husband's  consent, 
while  he  is  obliged  to  support  her  and  the 


04  ECCE  FEMINA. 

children,  and  can  not  dispose  of  all  his  property 
by  will,  without  her  consent,  even  if  she  is 
worth  a  million  of  her  own,  on  which  he  has 
no  claim.  In  regard  to  these  laws,  Pomeroy 
has  the  following,  in  his  u  Introduction  to  Mu 
nicipal  Law  :  "  — 

•"  These  several  provisions  plainly  have  the 
effect  to  render  marriage  a  mere  union  for  the 
production  and  management  of  children.  As 
to  their  other  legal  relations,  the  husband  and 
wife  have  not  even  the  united  interests  of  a 
partnership ;  for  in  that,  the  several  partners 
embark  their  property  together,  and  each  is 
bound  to  promote  the  advantage  of  the  whole, 
and  to  increase  the  common  fund,  which 
is  to  be  divided  among  them.  But  the 
family  in  New  York  has  no  such  community 
of  interests.  The  husband  is  still  the  nominal 
head  of  the  household  ;  he  determines  their 
domicil ;  he  must  provide  for  their  main 
tenance  :  but  one  of  the  greatest  safeguards  to 
a  complete  unity  of  sentiments,  of  hopes,  of 
plans,  and  of  labors,  is  utterly  destroyed." 

Other  States  have  laws  of  a  similar  ten 
dency.  On  this  account,  we  do  not  suppose 
that  we  are  all  going  to  ruin,  as  there  are  many 
influences  so  strong,  that  the  family  will 
always  be,  in  some  sense,  one.,  in  spite  of  bad 


THE  FAMILY.  95 

laws  ;  but  it  is  true  that  the  influence  of  such 
laws  is  evil,  and  tends  to  introduce  discord 
into  the  family.  If  an  examination  could  be 
made,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  venture  the  asser 
tion,  that  the  fact  that  the  husband  and  wife 
own  property  separately  has  caused  trouble  and 
discord  in  five  families,  where  it  has  been  a 
blessing  to  one.  There  is  and  can  be  nothing 
worse  in  a  family  than  "  yours  "  and  "  mine  :  " 
all  should  be  "  ours."  God's  law  makes  hus 
band  and  wife  one  ;  and  any  violation  of  this 
principle  brings  with  it  the  punishment,  in  the 
shape  of  discord  and  dissatisfaction. 

These  false  notions  of  the  family  relation 
have  led  to  loose  ideas  of  divorce ;  so  that  in 
some  States  we  have  had  the  ridiculous  farce 
of  marrying,  unmarrying  and  remarrying  the 
same  couple,  and  all  within  one  or  two  years. 
If  we  are  not  mistaken,  we  have  read  of  one 
case  of  this  kind,  in  which  this  process  was 
completed  within  a  few  months.  A  marriage 
relation  that  is  degraded  by  such  laws  and 
customs  seems  but  one  grade  above  concubi 
nage.  If  both  parties  understand  that  their 
union  is  to  be  for  life,  the  number  of  rash  and 
unhappy  marriages  will  be  greatly  decreased  in 
a  few  years.  And  in  regard  to  property,  is  it 
not  evident,  that,  if  a  woman  who  has  a  hun- 


96  ECCE  FEHINA. 

dred  thousand  dollars,  has  not  confidence 
enough  in  a  man  to  make  him  a  sharer  of  her 
property,  she  ought  not  to  marry  him  ?  The 
same  may  be  said  in  regard  to  a  man.  -These 
contracts,  by  which  the  parties  are  half  married 
and  half  single,  are  fruitful  of  evil,  and  tend  to 
desecrate  the  marriage  relation,  which  ought  to 
be  held  sacred. 

The  Innovators  are  not  satisfied  with  having 
levelled  the  family  thus  far,  but  wish  to  interfere 
with  its  unity  by  sending  two  representatives 
to  the  ballot-box,  instead  of  one.  They  are 
shrewd  enough  not  to  put  the  question  to  the 
public  in  this  way ;  but  base  their  arguments 
on  the  separate  rights  of  men  and  women,  and 
disregard  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  these  are 
husbands  and  wives,  and  then  form  one  class 
instead  of  two.  But  some  one  objects,  by  saying 
that  all  men  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  are 
allowed  to  vote,  whether  married  or  not.  Now, 
it  is  evident  that  there  are  so  many  chance 
circumstances  connected  with  the  time  of  a 
man's  marriage,  that  it  would  be  better  for 
government  to  consider  all  as  heads  of  families, 
after  they  have  reached  a  certain  age.  Some 
men  have  property  to  support  a  wife  at  twenty- 
one  ;  others  are  obliged  to  wait  until  they  can 
earn  it  ;  and  there  are  other  circumstances  to 


THE  FAMILY.  97 

interfere.  As  law  does  not  take  notice  of  ex 
ceptions,  it  recognizes  all  as  real  or  prospective 
husbands  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  This  age 
has  certainly  not  been  chosen  because  men 
have  not  intelligence  enough  to  vote  when 
younger.  If  that  was  the  only  qualification, 
the  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  would  be  sufficient. 
The  Innovators  have  made  a  great  noise,  on  the 
supposition  that  women  could  not  vote  on  ac 
count  of  a  lack  of  knowledge.  To  be  consistent 
they  ought  to  make  common  cause  with  all 
boys  who  have  the  necessary  intelligence.  From 
the  frequency  with  which  the  term  "  house 
holder"  is  used  in  English  law,  it  is  evident 
that  we  arrived  at  our  present  state  of  popular 
suffrage  from  merely  increasing  the  number  of 
voters,  so  that  now  all  heads  of  families  take 
part  in  government.  There  is  another  impor 
tant  fact :  in  England  and  some  other  countries, 
widows  and  unmarried  householders  have  been 
allowed  to  vote;,  but,  until  recently,  no  one  has 
been  so  wise  as  to  discover  the  propriety  of 
sending  two  representatives  from  the  same 
family.  Our  Saviour  took  for  granted  that  all 
could  see  the  absurdity  of  dividing  a  house. 
If  it  is  desirable  to  abolish  this  time-honored 
institution  called  the  family,  then  there  is  con 
sistency  in  individual  representation.  If  the 


98  ECGE  FEMINA. 

family  is  one  as  the  United-States  Government 
is,  then  it  would  be  as  absurd  to  send  two  rep 
resentatives  to  the  polls,  as  it  would  be  to  send 
two  ministers  to  Great  Britain  to  act  on  their 
individual  responsibilities. 

The  wisdom  of  the  Creator  is  seen  in  the 
method  he  has  taken  to  make  the  family  united 
and  harmonious.  If  he  had  made  man  and 
woman  alike,  union  would  have  been  almost 
impossible.  This  principle  is  so  well  known, 
that  it  has  become  a  proverb,  that  two  persons 
who  are  alike  cannot  agree.  When  a  person  is 
conscious  of  a  lack  of  any  quality,  that  quality 
seems  the  most  desirable  possession  in  the 
world,  and  there  is  an  irresistible  inclination 
towards  any  one  who  possesses  it.  The  wife, 
conscious  of  inferiority  in  strength,  takes  delight 
in  clinging  to  the  strong,  rough  nature  of  her 
husband.  She  loves  to  lean  on  his  arm  for 
support,  and  look  to  him  for  protection.  To  her, 
manly  strength  seems  to  be  the  noblest  and 
most  desirable  quality  in  the  world.  The  hus 
band,  aware  that  he  is  made  of  coarser  material 
than  woman,  is  attracted  by  her  gentle,  delicate 
nature,  and  warm,  sympathetic  heart,  while  her 
grace  and  refinement  seem  to  him  qualities 
superior  to  all  others.  He  looks  at  other  men, 
and  wonders "  what  there  is  in  them  which 


THE   FAMILY.  99 

attracts  women,  as  he  can  see  nothing  in  their 
natures  which  he  longs  to  obtain.  Of  course, 
it  is  not  desirable  that  husband  and  wife  should 
stand  on  different  planes,  so  that  the  mind  of  one 
is  so  far  above  the  other  that  there  is  no  point 
of  contact ;  but  if  their  minds  are  on  the  same 
level,  the  blending  of  these  diverse  characteris 
tics  produces  a  union  which  cannot  be  easily 
sundered,  and  one  that  is  fruitful  of  the  highest 
intellectual  enjoyment  to  both  parties.  If  men 
and  women  were  alike,  this  world  would  re 
semble  the  monotonous,  desolate  plain  where 
there  is  a  superabundance  of  a  certain  kind  of 
equality.  This  must  be  the  paradise  of  fools, 
so  much  talked  about :  a  very  good  place,  per 
haps,  yet  no  one  ought  to  be  censured  for  not 
hankering  for  the  innovation. 

When  two  persons  are  placed  together  with 
equal  shares  of  the  same  kind  of  power,  a  con 
flict  is  almost  inevitable.  In  partnership  busi 
ness,  unless  each  is  conscious  that  the  other 
has  a  superior  talent  for  some  duties,  there  is  a 
probability  of  a  dissolution,  unless  there  are 
powerful  counteracting  influences.  As  far  as 
our  observation  goes,  we  should  think  that 
partnerships  do  not  last  five  years,  on  the 
average,  except  where  the  duties  are  divided, 
so  that  there  is  but  little  chance  for  conflicting 


100  ECGE  FEMINA. 

views.     Where  this  is  not  the  case,  a  diversity 
of  character  and   capacity  is  necessary  to  per 
manence.     In  the  family,  the  husband  has  that 
kind  of  power  which  is  the  prerogative   of  su 
perior  strength  ;  the  wife,  that  which  belongs 
to  superior  tenderness,  refinement,  and  vivacity. 
On  account  of  this  difference,  it  is  not  difficult  for 
one  to  prevail  without  a  conflict  with  the  other. 
In  the  world,  the  power  of  man  is  more  apparent 
than  that  of  woman,  as  his  influence  is  exerted 
directly  upon  the  public  ;  but  there  is  a  potent 
influence    which  moves   the    man,  and  moulds, 
to    a  great    extent,  his   opinions.      The  social 
influence  of  woman  has  often  been  so  great  as 
to  change  the  course  of  empires.     This  has  not 
always  been  in  the  form  of  a  depraved  mistress. 
The  importance  of  the  power  which  Josephine 
exerted  over  Napoleon  for  good  is  well  known. 
Other   instances    of  a   similar  nature  might    be 
mentioned.     Although  man   is  the  head  of  the 
family,  and  represents  it   in  public,  yet,  within 
the  family-circle,  everybody  knows  that  the  wife 
has   and   uses  as  much  power  as  he  does.     A 
wife    that    is  ruled  and   governed  is   as  rarely 
seen    as    a    husband    who    is    completely    and  . 
meekly  under  the  control    of  his  wife.     Both 
characters  can  be   found    in    almost  any    com 
munity.     At  the  present  time  the  majority  of 


THE  FAMILY.  101 

families  are  governed  by  a  true  principle.  The 
wife  takes  charge  of  and  governs  in  all  matters 
where  she  has  a  natural  superiority  :  the  hus 
band  has  the  superintendence  of  all  concerns 
for  which  he  is  naturally  better  adapted  than 
the  wife. 

Those  who  are  now  so  earnest  in  demanding 
that  women  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  as 
men,  to  be  consistent  should  demand  that 
women  be  deprived  of  their  social  supremacy, 
and  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  men.  A 
woman  now  attends  to  her  own  affairs,  and  con 
ducts  them  in  such  a  manner  as  she  thinks  best, 
although  her  husband  may  have  as  much 
interest  in  what  she  does  as  she  has.  He 
attends  to  his  business  without  consulting  her, 
although  she  is  interested  in  his  progress.  In 
matters  of  importance,  or  when  there  is  any 
thing  to  be  done  out  of  the  ordinary  course, 
they  consult  each  other,  and  form  their  plans  in 
concert. 

Mill  sometimes  agrees  with  public  opinion. 
On  the  division  of  labor,  he  writes  as  follows  : 
"  When  the  support  of  the  family  depends,  not 
on  property,  but  on  earnings,  the  common 
arrangement,  by  which  the  man  earns  the 
income  and  the  wife  superintends  the  domestic 
expenditure,  seems  to  me  in  general  the  most 


102  ECCE  FEMINA. 

suitable  division  of  labor  between  the  two  per 
sons.  If,  in  addition  to  the  physical  suffering 
of  bearing  children,  and  the  whole  respon 
sibility  of  their  care  and  education  in  early 
years,  the  wife  undertakes  the  careful  and 
economical  application  of  the  husband's  earn 
ings  to  the  general  comfort  of  the  family,  she 
takes  not  only  her  fair  share,  but  usually  the 
larger  share,  of  the  bodily  and  mental  exertion 
required  by  their  joint  existence.  If  she 
undertakes  any  additional  portion,  it  seldom 
relieves  her  from  this,  but  only  prevents  her 
from  performing  it  properly.  The  care  which 
she  is  herself  disabled  from  taking:  of  the  chil- 

O 

dren  and  the  household,  nobody  else  takes ; 
those  of  the  children  who  do  not  die,  grow  up 
as  they  best  can,  and  the  management  of  the 
household  is  likely  to  be  so  bad,  as  even  in 
point  of  economy  to  be  a  great  drawback  from 
the  value  of  the  wife's  earnings.  In  an  other 
wise  just  state  of  things,  it  is  not,  therefore,  I 
think,  a  desirable  custom,  that  the  wife  should 
contribute  by  her  labor  to  the  income  of  the 
family"  (pp.  87,88). 

All  know  that  this  is  the  case  in  a  majority 
of  families,  and  that  it  is  only  the  minority  of 
women  who  could  engage  in  masculine  duties, 
if  they  wished.  We  desire  to  have  the  reader 


THE  FAMILY.  103 

keep  in  mind  two  important  facts  :  first,  that 
the  great  majority  of  women,  from  choice, 
sooner  or  later  become  wives  and  have  charge 
of  a  household ;  second,  that  laws  are  made  for 
the  masses,  not  the  exceptions,  and  that  society, 
in  all  its  complications,  becomes  adapted  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  majority,  so  that  the 
minority  must  always  labor  under  some  disad 
vantages.  The  wisest  and  most  humane 
nation  cannot  possibly  make  it  otherwise.  All 
that  can  justly  be  expected  is,  that  the  disad 
vantages  of  the  exceptions  be  made  as  small  as 
possible  consistent  with  the  good  of  the  whole. 
In  respect  to  wages  and  any  thing  that  is  con 
trolled  by  the  laws  of  political  economy,  or  the 
wants  of  the  public,  of  any  kind,  laws  and 
personal  opinions  are  of  no  avail.  The  path  in 
which  the  masses  travel,  always  has  been  and 
always  will  be  smoother  and  freer  from 
obstacles  than  any  other.  We  will  examine 
this  subject  more  at  length  when  we  come  to 
the  subject  of  female  labor. 

"  The  general  opinion  of  men  is  supposed  to 
be,  that  the  natural  vocation  of  a  woman  is  that 
of  a  wife  and  mother.  I  say,  is  supposed  to  be  ; 
because,  judging  from  acts,  from  the  whole 
of  the  present  constitution  of  society,  one 
might  infer  that  their  opinion  was  the  direct 


104  EQCE  FEMINA. 

contrary.  They  might  be  supposed  to  think 
that  the  alleged  natural  vocation  of  women 
was  of  all  things  the  most  repugnant  to  their 
nature ;  insomuch  that  if  they  are  free  to 
do  any  thing  else,  —  if  any  other  means  of 
living,  or  occupation  of  their  time  and  faculties, 
is  open,  which  has  any  chance  of  appearing 
desirable  to  them,  —  there  will  not  be  enough 
of  them  who  will  be  willing  to  accept  the  con 
dition  said  to  be  natural  to  them.  If  this  is 
the  real  opinion  of  men  in  general,  it  would  be 
well  that  it  should  be  spoken  out.  I  should 
like  to  hear  somebody  openly  enunciating  the 
doctrine  (it  is  already  implied  in  much  that  is 
written  on  the  subject).  '  It  is  necessary  to 
society  that  women  should  marry  and  produce 
children.  They  will  not  do  so  unless  they  are 
compelled.  Therefore  it  is  necessary  to  com 
pel  them.'  The  merits  of  the  case  would 
then  be  clearly  defined.  It  would  be  exactly 
that  of  the  slaveholders  of  South  Carolina  and 
Louisiana"  (pp.  49,  50). 

Does  anybody  think  this  a  fair  statement  of 
the  case  ?  It  is  not  "  the  general  opinion  of 
men  "  merely,  but  of  women,  that  "  the  natural 
vocation  of  a  woman  is  that  of  a  wife  and 
mother."  If  there  are  any  who  wish  to  go  out 
of  the  beaten  path,  they  are  at  liberty  to  do  so; 


THE  FAMILY.  105 

but,  if  they  find  more  difficulties  and  obstacles 
than  those  who  glide  along  with  the  current,  it 
is  useless  and  unreasonable  to  say  that  men 
designedly  place  these  in  their  way.  Perhaps 
the  condition  of  the  minority  might  be  made 
better  than  it  is  now ;  but  the  circumstances  of 
the  majority  will  always  be  better  than  those 
of  the  few.  Where  the  demand  is  greatest,  the 
supply  will  be  also.  Mill  knows  as  well  as 
anybody  that  there  is  no  combination  in 
society  to  practically  force  women  to  marry. 
Society  is  based  upon  the  family,  and  all  its 
machinery  is  arranged  accordingly.  It  is  not 
good  for  man  or  woman  to  be  alone  :  but,  where 
circumstances  make  it  necessary,  there  are 
greater  obstacles  in  a  woman's  path  than  in  a 
man's,  because  the  majority  of  men  are  obliged 
to  earn  money  enough  to  support  a  wife  and 
children,  and  the  way  is  open  to  them  ;  hence 
there  is  more  than  a  fair  chance  for  a  man  to 
support  himself.  As  the  few  employments  that 
women  are  adapted  to  engage  in,  without 
special  training,  are  crowded,  her  wages  are 
low,  and  must  always  remain  so.  If  women,  as 
a  general  rule,  did  not  marry,  but  engaged  in 
some  employment,  in  the  same  manner  that 
men  do,  in  the  course  of  time  they  would  have 
a  better  chance  as  laborers ;  but  that  can  never 


106    t  ECCE  FEMINA.  ' 

be.  Women,  as  well  as  men,  help  bring  about 
these  circumstances  against  which  Mill  raises 
an  unreasonable  complaint.  The  truth  is  this  : 
God  intended  both  sexes  for  marriage,  and 
adapted  their  natures  accordingly.  He  in 
tended  that  man  should  earn  the  bread  for  the 
family,  and  has  made  the  circumstances  such 
that  he  can  support  not  only  himself,  but  a 
wife  and  children.  It  is  evident  that  he  did 
not  intend  that  woman  should  compete  with 
man  in  the  more  important  kinds  of  labor,  yet 
she  can  earn  enough  to  support  herself.  We 
must  ask  the  reader  to  suspend  judgment  until 
the  subject  of  labor  is  discussed. 

The  real  enemies  of  those  women  who  are 
obliged  to  labor  for  a  living,  under  disad 
vantages,  are  those  who  are  degrading  the 
marriage  relation  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and 
leading  some  to  think  that  single  life  is  better  ; 
for  such  ideas  tend  to  make  this  minority  larger, 
so  that  there  is  a  greater  number  striving  for  the 
same  positions,  and  many  are  obliged  to  live  on 
what  belongs  to  a  few.  There  are  some 
women  who  are  going  through  the  land,  not 
lecturing,  but  scolding,  and  doing  all  in  their 
power  to  make  it  appear  contemptible  for  a 
woman  to  become  a  mother.  When  a  lady  (?) 
compares  a  mother  to  a  "  stock  animal,"  is  she 


THE  FAMILY.  107 

employing  the  best  method  of  elevating  her 
sex  ?  Is  she  not  slandering  her  own  mother, 
by  exhibiting  the  kind  of  "  stock  "  which  she 
bore  ?  There  is  another  fact :  since  some  of  the 
Innovators  (we  are  glad  that  a  part  of  them 
are  above  such  detestable  ideas)  have  been 
spreading  their  notions  of  marriage  through  the 
land,  the  crime  of  murdering  newly-born  or 
unborn  infants  has  increased.  We  cannot 
prove  that  the  Innovators  are  responsible  for 
the  increase  of  this  evil ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  their  exaggerated  statements  might,  and 
probably  would,  lead  to  such  results. 

If  a  woman  should  read  or  hear  these  state 
ments,  which  are  generally  intended  to  be 
heart-rending,  and  be  at  the  same  time  worry 
ing  and  dreading  the  pains  of  child-bearing,  she 
would  probably  allow  her  imagination  to  depict 
the  lot  of  woman  as  something  horrible,  and 
she  would  thfhk  that  the  whole  was  unjust: 
hence  she  would  try  to  justify  herself  in  using 
any  means  to  escape  a  portion  of  these  evils. 
The  Innovators  have  long  enough  accused 
others  of  causing  evils,  which  they  have  not 
helped  remove,  but  have  aggravated.  We  do 
not  know  that  their  teachings  have  helped 
increase  the  evil  to  which  we  have  alluded,  but 
the  facts  make  it  seem  probable.  Low  wages 


108  EGCE  FEMINA. 

cannot  account  for  such  crimes  in  rich  fami 
lies. 

The  whole  tendency  of  this  whining,  scold 
ing,  and  complaining  is  bad.  Every  evil  that 
falls  to  the  lot  of  woman  has  been  attributed 
to  her  present  position,  even  when  there  is  not 
a  particle  of  evidence  to  sustain  such  assertions. 
When  such  ideas  have  been  spread,  they  have 
not  convinced  the  majority  of  good,  sensible 
women,  and  made  them  advocates  of  female 
suffrage  ;  but  the  class  of  winners  and  scolders 
have  taken  courage  to  complain  louder  and 
make  more  noise  about  their  troubles.  Some 
have  obtained  the  idea  that  they  are  behind  the 
age,  if  they  meet  those  evils  which  cannot  be 
avoided,  with  the  noble  spirit  of  a  true  woman. 
Instead  of  trying  to  overcome  calamities  by 
rational  means,  they  sit  and  sigh  for  the  time 
when  woman  will  be  elevated !  They  ascribe 
troubles  to  the  present  condition*  of  their  sex, 
when  the  cause  of  them  is  in  their  own  minds, 
or  is  inseparable  from  the  present  existence  of 
the  human  race.  We  have  not  one  word  to 
say  against  those  women  like  M.  C.  A.,  who 
favor  female  suffrage.  They  are  far  above 
any  thing  of  the  nature  that  we  have  been 
describing.  To  such  we  can  only  say,  we  think 
you  are  mistaken,  and  wish  you  were  in  better 


THE  FAMILY.  109 

company.  Some  of  those  who  favor  female  suf 
frage  are  as  true  women  as  ever  breathed.  They 
have  no  mean  and  sordid  notion  of  a  woman's 
duties.  Men  and  women  should  shrink  from 
the  performance  of  none  of  the  offices  which 
God  has  imposed  upon  them.  Trouble  may 
sometimes  be  avoided  ;  but  when  it  cannot  be, 
honorably,  there  should  be  no  shrinking. 

"  For  every  evil  under  the  sun, 
There  is  a  remedy,  or  there's  none. 
If  there  is  one,  try  and  find  it : 
If  there  isn't,  never  mind  it." 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  husband  to  provide  a 
comfortable  home  for  the  family,  and  procure 
the  means  of  support,  that  the  wife  may  have 
an  opportunity  to  devote  her  time  and  energies 
to  the  internal  prosperity  of  the  household. 
Society  generally  condemns  the  man  that  does 
not  provide  money  enough  before  marriage  to 
meet  any  emergency.  The  fact  that  poor  men 
sometimes  marry  rich  women  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  general  principle.  Probably  some  of 
the  unreasonable  changes  in  the  laws  were 
secured  by  harping  about  these  exceptional 
cases,  and  discarding  the  unity  of  the  family. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  husband  to  see  that  his 
wife  and  children  are  protected  in  their  lives, 


110  ECCE  FEMINA. 

liberties,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  If 
these  blessings  cannot  be  secured  by  peaceable 
measures,  he  is  in  duty  bound  to  take  up  arms 
for  their  defence.  The  same  principle  that 
makes  the  husband  the  protector  in  time  of  war, 
makes  him  such  in  time  of  peace.  Political 
life  differs  from  war  not  so  much  in  nature  as 
in  degree.  Women  are  naturally  more  timid 
than  men,  ^  although  there'  are  exceptions. 
Bravery  is  a  virtue  which  we  have  no  right  to 
demand  of  women  :  hence  we  owe  them  double 
honor  when  they  bravely  perform  such  service 
as  they  did  during  the  late  war.  It  is  true  that 
women  have  the  same  right  to  the  blessings  of 
liberty  that  men  have  ;  but  this  is  not  all : 
they  also  have  a  right  to  expect  that  their  hus 
bands  will  provide  such  a  government  that 
these  blessino-s  will  be  secured.  On  the  same 

O 

principle  that  the  husband  provides  a  house  and 
clothing  for  the  physical  comfort  of  his  family, 
he  provides  money  to  support  schools  and  gov 
ernment,  and  performs  the  duties  of  a  voter,  that 
his  family  may  be  secure  in  their  intellectual 
and  moral  well-being. 

The  duties  of  the  wife  correspond  with  her 
nature.  They  are  more  numerous  than  the 
husband's,  but  not  as  rough.  She  requires 
less  strength,  but  greater  agility.  The  arrange- 


THE  FAMILY.  Ill 

raont  and  disposal  of  the  household  belong  to 
her,  and  no  man  has  any  right  to  interfere  with 
her  here.  We  will  join  with  the  Innovators  in 
condemning  any  custom  which  interferes  with 

O  i/ 

woman's  supremacy  in  her  own  house  or  in 
society.  Woman  generally  is  and  should  be 
regarded  as  above  man,  in  all  matters  where  she 
has  superior  natural  endowments.  The  equality 
of  power  between  the  sexes  does  not  and  cannot 
properly  consist  in  giving  each  an  equal  share 
in  the  direction  of  all  matters  ;  but  each  has, 
and  should  have,  the  charge  and  control  of  those 
affairs  for  which  he  or  she  has  a  superior 
natural  capacity.  In  some  positions  he  is  first, 
and  she  second ;  in  others  she  is  first,  and  he 
second.  In  the  care  of  young  children,  no 
man,  however  kind-hearted,  can  fill  the 
mother's  place.  He  is  too  slow  and  clumsy  to 
take  care  of  them,  even  if  he  could  perceive 
and  appreciate  their  wants  as  quickly,  which 
he  cannot  do.  Severe  manual  labor,  or  contact 
with  the  rough  side  of  the  world,  would  tend  to 
make  a  woman  unfit  for  a  mother's  duties, 
while  she  would  be  an  inferior  sort  of  a  man. 
Who  can  believe  that  God  inte-nds  that  tender 
ness  and  delicacy  should  be  used  for  the  same 
purposes  as  strength  and  vigor  ?  The  fact  that 
the  woman  bears  the  children  is  a  strong  proof 


112  ECCE  FEMINA. 

that  she  was  not  intended  to  take  part  in  the 
rougher  scenes  of  life. 

No  law  can  settle  the  question  as  to  which 
shall  govern.  The  law  must  suppose  that  they 
are  of  one  mind,  and  consider  the  will  of  either 
as  the  will  of  both.  A  safeguard  can  be  pro 
vided  against  abuses.  If  both  are  required  to 
sign  any  kind  of  deed,  the  real  estate  is  so  pro 
tected  that  it  cannot  be  squandered.  Under 
existing  laws,  we  have  known  instances  where  an 
injunction  has  been  served  on  a  husband  to  pre 
vent  his  spending  the  personal  property.  There 
may  be  special  remedies  for  unusual  cases,  yet 
the  laws  should  not  be  made  to  discommode 
the  transaction  of  common  business,  as  this 
would  injure  both  husband  and  wife.  We  do 
not  think  that  there  is  any  injustice  in  consider 
ing  the  husband  the  head  of  the  family,  and 
endowed  with  power  to  use  the  common  fund 
as  he  thinks  best.  The  wife  should  have  the 
same  chance.  In  the  absence  of  proof  to  the 
contrary,  one  is  supposed  to  agree  with  the  other. 
Make  the  family  one  before  the  world,  and 
allow  it  to  arrange  its  own  internal  affairs.  At 

O 

one  time  the  opinion  of  the  wife  will  prevail : 
at  another,  that  of  the  husband.  It  always  has 
been  so,  and  probably  always  will  be.  It  can 
not  be  asserted  that  the  present  division  of  power 


THE  FAMILY.  113 

and  duties  between  the  sexes  lias  been  made  by 
men,  since  the  majority  of  women  are  not  will 
ing  that  there  should  be  any  material  change. 
Women  are  satisfied  with  their  power  as 
queens.  In  society,  the  man  that  treats  a 
woman  no  better  than  he  would  a  fellow-man 
is  considered  a  barbarian.  Here  woman  is  first, 
and  every  man  is  bound  to  pay  her  homage. 
Everywhere  he  is  obliged  to  give  her  the  best 
place  :  he  must  give  up  his  seat,  or  do  any 
thins  for  her  accommodation. 

<"5 

The  attraction  which  exists  between  the  sexes 
is  so  strong,  that  their  opinions  can  never  vary 
widely.  The  bond  of  conjugal  love  is  stronger 
than  all  influences  combined.  Disturbing 
causes  sometimes  produce  slight  jars  ;  yet  when 
ever  any  person  outside  of  the  family  injures 
either,  the  strength  of  attachment  between  hus 
band  and  wife  is  at  once  apparent.  Those  who 
suppose  that  it  will  ever  be  possible  to  persuade 
the  majority  of  husbands  and  wives  to  act  in  op 
position  to  or  independent  of  each  other,  in  poli 
tics  or  any  thing  else,  are  greatly  mistaken. 
This,  however,  is  true  :  by  carrying  out  the 
measures  of  the  Innovators,  the  amount  of  dis 
cord  and  misery  in  family  circles  would  be  greatly 
increased,  and  the  next  generation  made  much 
worse  than  the  present.  There  can  never  be 


114  ECCE  FEMINA. 

any  method  devised  for  the  rearing  of  children, 
equal  to  that  which  makes  their  own  parents 
their  guides  and  protectors  :  hence  the  necessity 
of  preserving  the  unity  and  harmony  of  the 
family.  The  children  form  so  strong  a  con 
necting  link,  that  a  family  separation  is  some 
times  horrible.  Both  parents  love  to  watch 
over  the  child  during  its  tender  years,  and  both 
take  pride  in  watching  their  children  as  they 
approach  manhood  or  womanhood.  "  A  wise 
son  maketh  a  glad  father  ;  but  a  foolish  son  is 
the  heaviness  of  his  mother."  The  parents 
love  to  labor  together  for  the  good  of  their 
children.  They  rejoice  together  when  they 
prosper,  and  weep  together  when  they  are  over 
taken  by  calamity.  The  very  existence  of  a 
child  is  proof  o£  the  unity  of  the  family,  so 
strong  that  it  cannot  be  denied. 

Some  people  take  delight  in  trying  to  make 
young  people  believe  that  the  marriage  relation 
is  the  cause  of  all  trouble.  They  will  point  to 
this  family  and  that  family,  and  speak  of  some 
kind  of  trouble  which  each  has  experienced. 
They  talk  as  though  the  unmarried  never  had 
any  troubles.  We  all  know  that  this  is  a  world 
of  sin  and  suffering,  and  everybody  ouylit 
to  know  that  unalloyed  happiness  cannot  be 
attained  in  any  relation.  No  person  who  is 


THE  FAMILY.  115 

conversant  with  the  world  can  truthfully  deny, 
that  married  people,  on  the  average,  are  happier 
than  those  who  are  not.  The  troubles  and 
trials  of  parents  are  of  one  kind  ;  of  those  who 
have  no  children,  of  another.  A  person  may 
avoid  one  evil  by  accepting  a  worse.  The 
world  is  dark,  dreary,  and  desolate  to  those  who 
make  it  such  ;  while  it  is  pleasant,  cheerful,  and 
abounding  with  good  things,  for  those  who  look 
upon  the  bright  side  of  life. 

Mill  is  sometimes  quite  candid  when  he  has 
not  a  special  point  to  prove,  yet  he  changes  his 
mind  when  it  is  convenient.  On  page  83, 
he  says,  u  I  readily  admit  (and  it  is  the 
very  foundation  of  my  hopes)  that  numbers  of 
married  people,  even  under  the  present  law 
(in  the  higher  classes  of  England  probably  a 
great  majority),  live  in  the  spirit  of  a  just  law 
of  equality.  Laws  never  would  be  improved, 
if  there  were  not  numerous  persons  whose 
moral  sentiments  are  better  than  existing  laws." 
Yet  on  page  91,  when  he  wishes  to  sh  irpen  an 
argument,  he  writes,  "  I  believe  that  their 
disabilities  elsewhere  are  only  clung  to  in  order 
to  maintain  their  subordination  in  domestic  life ; 
because  the  generality  of  the  male  sex  cannot 
yet  tolerate  the  idea  of  living  with  an  equal. 
Were  it  not  for  that,  I  think  that  almost  every 


116  ECCE  FEMINA. 

one,  in  the  existing  state  of  opinion  in  politics 
and  political  economy,  would  admit  the  injustice 
of  excluding  half  the  human  race  from  the 
greater  number  of  lucrative  occupations,  and 
from  almost  all  high  social  functions."  By 
trying  to  carry  his  point  by  this  method  of 
proof,  he  tacitly  admits  that  society  is  supposed 
to  be  organized  on  a  just  principle,  unless  it  can 
be  shown  that  some  portion  of  the  community 
has  a  selfish  or  corrupt  motive  in  making  it 
otherwise.  It  will  be  necessary  to  prove  that 
one  or  both  of  the  sexes  have  such  a  motive, 
or  else  we  must  conclude  that  the  present 
relation  of  the  sexes  is  natural.  We  hardly 
think  that  the  Innovators  would  ascribe  such  a 
design  to  woman,  the  oppressed  sex,  as  they 
claim.  Men  must  be  supposed  innocent  of 
such  wicked  intentions  until  proved  guilty : 
hence  the  burden  of  proof  rests  on  their  accu 
sers.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  an  inor 
dinate  desire  for  power  would  be  a  sufficient 
motive :  there  must  be  proof  that  there  is  such 
a  desire  among  the  majority  of  men  at  the 
present  time.  The  Innovators  have  only  shown 
that  there  is  such  a  spirit  existing  in  the  breasts 
of  a  few  men.  If  women  desire  any  thing,  they 
usually  invent  some  means  to  carry  their  point. 
Are  not  the  majprity  of  men  willing  to  acquiesce 


THE  FAMILY.  Ill 

ill  their  wives'  wishes,  and  do  they  not  often  go 
contrary  to  their  own  judgment  for  the  sake  of 
pleasing  their  wives  ?  No  one  has  a  right  to 
say  that  they  would  not  grant  female  suffrage 
until  a  majority  of  women  desire  it.  Mill's  own 
admission,  in  the  first  passage,  is  confirmatory 
of  our  opinion.  As  there  is  no  proof  to  coun 
teract  this  presumption,  which  Mill  tacitly 
admits,  we  have  a  right  to  say  that  the  present 
relation  of  the  sexes  is  natural.  Whenever 

man  has  wronged  woman,  there  is  abundance  of 

&  ' 

proof  that  he  did  not  yield  to  her  wishes,  but 
followed  the  bent  of  his  own  will.  If,  in 
modern  times,  men  have  treated  women  with 
justice  on  all  points  of  law  where  they  have 
been  asked  by  any  considerable  part  of  the 
women  to  do  so,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  they 
have  no  inordinate  desire  of  power.  We  have 
seen  already  that  they  have  changed  some  of 
the  laws,  so  that  they  are  more  favorable  to 
women  than  to  men. 

Mill  is  right  when  he  says,  "  We  know  that 
the  bad  propensities  of  human  nature  are  only 
kept  within  bounds  where  they  are  allowed  no 
scope  for  their  indulgence."  On  this  ground, 
we  claim  that  the  ideas  which  the  Innovators 
have  promulgated  in  regard  to  marriage  have 
discouraged  some  from  entering  that  relation 


118  ECVE  FEMINA. 

and  increased  the  number  of  single  persons ; 
hence  have  increased  the  probability  of  immo 
rality.  We  know  that  there  are  men  and 
women  who  can  resist  temptation ;  but,  in 
judging  of  masses,  we  must  take  the  average, 
and  reason  from  probabilities.  The  promiscu 
ous  mingling  of  the  sexes  in  employment 
must  greatly  increase  the  probability  of  immo 
rality. 

"  Vice  is  a  monster  of  so  frightful  mien, 

As,  to  be  hated,  needs  but  to  be  seen  : 
Yet,  seen  too  oft,  familiar  -with  her  face, 
We  first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace." 

We  cannot  close  this  chapter  better  than  by 
quoting  Pomeroy's  remarks  on  the  marriage 
relation :  "  The  idea  of  marriage  —  of  the 
mutual  choice  of  each  other  by  one  man  and 
one  woman,  to  unite  and  form  one  separate 
family,  and  be  the  parents  of  children  who  are 
to  be  their  special  care,  and  are  to  perpetuate 
their  name — seems  to  be  as  naturally  implanted 
in  the  human  race  as  the  idea  of  lamniao-e  or 

&      o 

'of  religion.  The  earliest  record,  which  leads 
us  back,  to  the  very  birth  of  mankind,  tells  of 
marriage  from  the  beginning  ;  and  the  his 
tories  of  all  peoples  who  have  a  history  dis 
close  its  existence.  Often  it  has  been  debased 


THE  FAMILY.  119 

from  its  pure  ideal,  and  its  simplicity  and 
beauty  marred  and  almost  destroyed,  by  the 
prevalence  of  concubinage  and  polygamy  ;  but, 
still,  no  nation  has  sunk  so  low,  has  so  entirely 
lost  the  original  divine  life  breathed  into 

O 

humanity,  as  to  be  without  some  approach  to 
that  personal  choice  and  separation  of  two 
individuals  of  opposite  sex  from  all  others, 
which  constitutes  this  relation.  And  among 
those  peoples  where  civilization  has  made  the 
most  progress,  whether  in  ancient  or  modern 
times,  and  especially  where  the  pure  morality 
of  the  Christian  religion  has  been  felt  in  mould 
ing  the  institutions  and  laws,  we  shall  find  the 
marriage-tie  the  strongest,  the  separation  of 
husband  and  wife  from  all  others  the  most 
complete,  the  unity  of  the  family  the  most 
perfect." 


120  EGCE  FEM1XA. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE     PRINCIPLE     INVOLVED     IN     POPULAR     SUF 
FRAGE. 

HEN  people  discovered  the  truth, 
that  the  right  of  governing  did 
not  belong  to  one  person  or  to  one 
class,  but  to  one  individual  as  much 
as  another,  they  at  once  accepted  another  con 
clusion,  without  any  reason  for  so  doing;  viz., 
that  the  people  were  the  ultimate  source  of 
law,  and  that  there  was  no  higher  authority. 
A  little  reflection  will  convince  a  candid  man 
of  the  absurdity  of  this  conclusion.  It  is 
evident  that  the  majority  cannot  make  it  right 
to  enslave  the  minority,  even  if  they  make 
laws  to  that  effect.  A  nation  of  pirates  might 
make  laws  legalizing  theft,  perjury,  adultery, 
and  murder  ;  yet  it  would  not  be  right.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  have  enacted 
unjust  laws,  and  there  are  many  wicked  laws 
in  force  in  this  country  now  ;  yet  they  are  just 
as  wrong  as  though  enforced  by  a  single  despot. 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  121 

We  are  told  that  there  is  a  law  within  us  which 
declares  some  acts  just,  and  others  unjust. 
This  is  true ;  but  the  human  conscience  is 
often  so  seared  and  blighted  by  sin,  and  the 
human  mind  so  perverted  by  wicked  motives, 
that  it  cannot  always  be  trusted  to  render  a 
judgment  according  to  the  original  law  im 
planted  in  the  human  mind.  But  who  framed 
the  human  mind,  and  gave  it  this  law  to  which 
we  have  referred  ?  There  must  be  something 
back  of  this.  Every  one  but  the  atheist  mast 
conclude,  then,  that  God  is  the  ultimate  source 
of  all  law.  The  best  government,  then,  is  that 
which  embodies  the  law  of  God  the  most  per 
fectly.  The  statement  that  a  certain  condition 
is  natural,  is  only  another  method  of  stating 
that  it  accords  with  a  law  of  the  Creator. 
This  law  can  be  ascertained,  to  a  certain  extent, 
from  the  works  of  nature  and  the  constitution 
of  the  human  mind  ;  but  that  mind  has  been  so 
perverted  by  sin,  that  we  need  something  more. 
We  have  just  what  is  needed  in  the  revealed 
will  of  our  Maker.  In  the  Bible,  the  law  of 
God  is  clearly  defined.  Those  who  discard 
this,  in  the  formation  of  governments,  reap  the 
fruit  of  their  self-reliance  in  being  obliged  to 
discover  truth,  by  costly  and  dangerous  experi 
ments,  which  is  clearly  revealed  in  the  Bible. 


122  ECCE  FEM1NA. 

We  have  already  felt  how  terrible  is  the  ven 
geance  of  a  jealous  God,  who  demands  allegi 
ance  of  all  nations,  and  obedience  to  his 
revealed  will.  A  destructive  war  has  taught 
us  that  we  are  accountable  to  a  higher  power  ; 
yet  we  still  cling  to  the  atheistic  principle  upon 
which  our  constitution  is  based.  The  un 
natural  doctrines  of  the  Innovators  come  logi 
cally  from  the  declared  principle  that  there  is 
nothing  higher  than  "  we  the  people."  What 
the  Bible  teaches  on  this  subject  we  will  show 
in  another  chapter. 

It  is  true,  that  the  will  of  the  people  is  of 
more  importance,  and  should  be  considered  as 
of  more  weight,  than  that  of  a  king  or  class 
of  nobles ;  yet  government  derives  its  authority 
and  just  power  from  the  great  Lawgiver. 

Government  should  be  an  embodiment  of 
the  higher  law.  The/orw  of  government  is  a 
matter  of  expediency.  If  one  man  would 
make  better  laws,  and  administer  them  better, 
than  a  hundred,  or  any  other  number,  it  would 
be  expedient  to  place  the  power  in  his  hands ; 
but  no  man  is  lorn  with  any  natural  right  to 
rule  others.  The  problem  to  be  solved  is,  in 
what  way  can  laws  be  made  and  administered  so 
that  the  law  of  God  will  be  the  most  nearly 
carried  out  ?  Perfection  is  impossible ;  yet  it  is 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  123 

desirable  to  get  as  near  it  as  practicable.  If  a 
government  could  be  secured  which  would 
carry  out  the  law  of  God  to  perfection,  the 
highest  good  of  the  people  would  then  be 
attained.  Although  there  will  be  some  evils 
in  any  government,  yet,  by  a  careful  examina 
tion  of  fundamental  principles,  many  may  be 
eliminated. 

It  is  true,  that  the  law  of  our  Creator  has 
been  imprinted  on  our  souls;  and  men,  from  a 
sense  of  justice,  will>now  do  what  is  right,  when 
wicked  motives  do  not  lead  them  astray. 
There  are  two  conflicting  powers  in  every 
mind.  In  most  men,  the  influence  of  selfishness 
is  so  strong,  that,  when  power  is  placed  in  their 
hands,  and  there  is  no  authority  to  call  their 
decisions  in  question,  they  will  pervert  it,  more 
or  less,  to  the  purposes  of  self-aggrandizement, 
and  that  of  their  friends.  An  absolute 'monarch, 
who  has  no  fear  of  losing  his  throne,  probably 
wrongs  the  people  in  many  respects ;  and,  if  he 
is  a  wicked  man,  he  can  cause  almost  unlimited 
suffering.  People  who  allow  one  man  to  rule 
run  great  risks,  as  their  happiness  often  depends 
upon  caprice.  Men  will  try  to  satisfy  their 
consciences  by  trivial  excuses.  If  the  power 
is  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  large  body  of  men, 
who  hold  it  for  life,  they  will  usually  pervert 


124  ECCE  FEMINA. 

justice,  more  or  less,  and  make  laws  which  are 
more  favorable  to  themselves  than  to  other  classes. 
If  some  classes  are  allowed  more  power  than 
others,  they  will  usually  consider  any  measure 
just  which  is  for  their  advantage.  If  all 
classes  and  all  sections  of  a  country,  ruled  by 
one  nation,  are  allowed  an  equal  share  in 
government,  the  interests  of  one  class  or  section 
will  counteract  those  of  another ;  and  the 
chances  of  perverting  justice  by  selfish  motives 
are  reduced  to  a  minimum.  There  is  a  proba 
bility,  amounting  almost  to  certainty,  that  the 
good  of  the  majority  will  be  secured,  so  far  as 
men  can  learn  what  that  is  ;  and,  under  ordi 
nary  circumstances,  justice  will  be  done  to  all : 
yet  the  minority  will  sometimes  be  seriously 
wronged.  This  system  of  allowing  all  classes 
to  take  part  in  government  has  serious  faults ; 
yet  it  is  the  best  which  can  be  adopted.  It 
matters  not,  that  other  nations  can  point  out 
some  evils  in  our  system,  which  do  not  exist  in 
theirs,  so  long  as  we  can  show  that  the  aggre 
gate  amount  of  good  results  is  greater,  and  of 
evil  less,  under  our  form  of  government  than 
under  any  other. 

But  let  us  examine  this  subject,  and  see  to 
what  extent  we  have  carried  popular  suffrage, 
and  ascertain  how  we  arrived  at  our  present 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  125 

stand-point.  The  founders  of  our  government 
were  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Eng 
land.  From  the  days  of  King  John  to  the 
time  of  George  III.,  there  had  been  a  constant 
struggle  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  limit  the 
power  of  the  crown.  At  some  periods,  the 
strife  was  between  the  nobility  and  the  throne  : 
at  others,  between  the  people  of  the  so-called 
lower  classes  and  the  nobility.  There  were  no 
natural  divisions,  but  the  whole  machinery  was 
artificial.  There  had  been,  and  has  since  been, 
a  constant  strife  between  the  various  classes. 
Our  forefathers  resolved  to  discard  all  artificial 
distinctions.  They  did  not  give  all  persons  a 
share  in  government,  but  all  classes;  so  that 
there  should  not  be  one  class  to  rule,  while 
there  was  another,  with  conflicting  interests, 
without  representation.  They  did  not  make 
all  persons,  who  had  sufficient  intelligence, 
voters  ;  but  they  went  back  until  they  found  a 
natural  division  in  society,  —  the  family,  —  and 
made  the  head  of  every  family  a  voter.  These 
constituted  about  one-seventh  of  the  whole 
population.  They  did  not  even  consider  all  the 
males  of  sufficient  intelligence,  voters.  If  they 
had  acted  on  this  principle,  they  would  have 
given  all  men  the  right  of  suffrage  on  reaching 
the  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen.  As  the  number 


126  ECCE  FEMIXA. 

of  voters  is  about  equal  to  the  number  of 
families,  and  as  there  is  no  other  principle  on 
which  the  present  system  of  voting  can  be  ac 
counted  for,  we  have  a  right  to  consider  it  as  a 
fact,  that  suffrage,  as  it  exists  in  the  United 
States,  is  based  on  the  principle  that  each  fam 
ily  should  be  allowed  one  representative.  It  is 
true  that  this  principle  has  not  -been  written 
down  in  so  many  words  in  our  constitution, 
and  we  are  not  aware  that  it  is  in  any  of  our 
laws ;  yet  this,  like  most  other  fundamental 
principles,  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  society  on  natural  principles.  Our 
forefathers  accepted  this  great  fundamental 
principle,  as  it  were,  unconsciously.  Perhaps  a 
majority  of  them  had  never  examined  this 
matter  by  itself.  It  does  not  matter  so  much 
how  \ve  arrived  at  the  present  position,  as  it  does 
whether  it  is  a  good  basis  for  government.  Is 
there  any  better  ?  and  is  there  any  valid  objec 
tion  to  this  ? 

Government  is  a  representative  system,  from 
necessity.  The  masses  cannot  frame  laws, 
but  must  select  a  few  to  do  this  for  them.  It 
is  desirable  to  have  voters  enough  to  equally 
and  fairly  represent  all  classes.  Any  thing 
beyond  this  is  useless  and  troublesome.  Now, 
do  men  and  women  form  two  distinct  classes, 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  127 

with  antagonistic  interests  ?  It  is  certain  that 
the  Innovators  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to 
make  them  such ;  yet  the  bond  of  union  be 
tween  the  sexes  is  so  strong,  that  they  have 
made  but  little  progress  in  the  separation.  A 
few  women  scold,  and  cry  out  that  men  are 
their  oppressors ;  yet  the  majority  move  along 
undisturbed  by  such  assertions,  as  they  know 
them  to  be  untrue.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
there  is  a  minority  of  men  who  wrong  and 
slander  women  ;  and  there  is  an  equal  number 
of  women  who  either  abuse  their  husbands  at 
home,  or  publicly  calumniate  the  male  sex.  We 
do  not  think  the  employments  of  either  sex 
are  s<* limited,  that  they  must  needs  busy  them 
selves  in  traducing  and  ridiculing  each  other. 
Notwithstanding  these  exceptions  in  both  sexes, 
it  is  true  that  they  are  more  firmly  united  than 
different  portions  of  the  same  sex.  Men  often 
war  with  each  other ;  yet  we  have  no  reliable 
account  of  any  general  conflict  between  the 
sexes,  or  any  desire  for  one,  until  recently.  If 
every  woman  were  obliged  to  accept  any  man 
who  offered  himself,  there  would  be  a  ground  for 
complaint ;  but,  as  it  is,  she  can  select  such  a 
man  as  she  desires  to  protect  her  in  her  rights, 
and  represent  her  and  her  future  children  at 
the  ballot-box.  It  is  not  a  remarkable  thing 


128  ECGE  FEMINA. 

for  a  woman  to  reject  a  man  on  account  of  his 
politics.  It  is  the  woman's  fault  if  she  does 
not  study  all  points  of  a  man's  character 
before  accepting  him.  Before  marriage,  both 
parties  ought  to  be  satisfied  that  they  will  be 
one  on  all  matters  of  importance.  Certainly, 
if  they  differ  on  any  important  subject,  they 
ought  to  agree  not  to  contend  about  it.  Inde 
pendent  political  action  is  not  consistent  with 
the  unity  of  the  family.  We  do  not  suppose  it 
would  produce  any  horrible  result ;  but,  so  far  as 
any  result  would  be  produced,  it  would  be  evil. 
It  is  very  desirable  that  husband  and  wife 
belong  to  the  same  church ;  yet,  when  they  do 
not,  there  is  no  act  on  the  part  of  one  wffich  is 
directly  hostile  to  that  of  the  other.  In  reli 
gion,  representative  belief  is  impossible.  No 
wife  can  delegate  to  her  husband  the  power  to 
perform  her  religious  duties,  for  this  is  an 
individual  matter.  We  see  no  reason  why 
both  sexes  should  not  vote  in  the  church,  if 
they  wish  to.  Perhaps  it  may  sometimes  be 
the  duty  of  women  to  vote  on  church-matters. 
Nor  do  we  see  any  reason  why  a  young  man 
or  young  woman,  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of 
age,  should  not  vote.  Any  person  who  has 
intelligence  enough  to  make  a  profession  of 
religion  can  vote  on  the  same  ground.  The 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  129 

reasons  why  children  should  be  subject  to  their 
parents,  in  the  state,  until  they  reach  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  do  not  exist  in  the  church.  We 
consider  it  tyranny  for  a  parent  to  control  the 
religious  belief  of  a  son  or  daughter,  while  we 
allow  them  the  profits  of  their  labor. 

There  is  not  the  least  ground  to  sustain  the 
assumption  of  the  Innovators,  that  the  sexes 
form  two  classes  with  opposite  interests.  They 
presume  this  in  most  of  their  arguments.  As  far 
as  the  subject  of  labor  is  concerned,  political 
economists  have  proved  that  legislation  is  worse 
than  useless,  as  every  thing  of  this  kind  must 
yield  to  the  invincible  laws  of  political  economy. 
When  the  laws  are  unjust  to  woman,  men 
have  evinced  not  only  a  willingness  to  change 
them,  but  have  made  them,  in  some  instances, 
more  favorable  to  women  than  to  men.  Not 
loner  since  we  heard  a  man  say  that  his  wife 

&  *• 

had  a  piece  of  land  which  she  could  dispose  of 
without  saying  a  word  to  him,  while  he  owned 
real  estate,  but  any  deed  from  him  without  her 
signature  would  be  worthless.  The  fact  that 

O 

women  are  so  indifferent  to  female  suffrage 
proves  that  there  is  no  antagonism  between  the 
sexes.  God  has  said  that  husband  and  wife  are 
one  flesh ;  and  we  are  warned  that  we  have  no 
right  to  create  a  division.  We  take  the  folio w- 

9 


130  ECCE  FEMINA. 

ing  very  sensible  remarks  from  a  letter  written 
by  Rev.  R.  M.  Hatfield  to  "The  Indepen 
dent:"— 

"  Human  nature  is  selfish,  and  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  human  nature  in  both  men  and 
women ;  but  any  general  antagonism  between 
the  sexes  is  impossible.  Their  interests  are  so 
related  and  interblended,  that  no  power  can 
separate  them,  much  less  array  them  under 
opposing  standards.  And,  when  one  man  and 
one  woman  are  joined  together  by  love  in  the 
holy  state  of  matrimony,  they  are  no  more 
twain,  but  one  flesh.  Any  conflict  between 
them  would  be  as  unnatural  as  a  conflict 
between  the  different  members  of  the  same 
body.  The  husband  who  attempts  to  oppress 
or  degrade  his  wife  is  a  madman,  who  hates  his 
own  flesh.  No  reconstruction  of  society, 
therefore,  is  needed  to  abolish  this  imaginary 
antagonism  between  the  sexes." 

In  accordance,  then,  with  the  principle,  in 
volved  in  popular  suffrage,  which  our  fore 
fathers  established,  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
number  of  votes  should  be  increased  by  making 
it  the  duty  of  women  to  vote,  as  well  as  men ; 
but  there  are  many  reasons  against  it.  The 
supposition  that  the  family  can  have  two  pur 
poses  is  subversive  of  the  very  existence  of 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  131 

this  institution  which  God  established  in  the 
garden  of  Eden.  Our  fathers  thought  it  suffi 
cient  that  all  classes  were  made  voters.  It 
certainly  is  impossible  to  allow  all  individuals 
to  go  to  the  ballot-box.  If  female  suffrage  was 
adopted,  only  two-sevenths  of  the  population 
would  be  voters  ;  so  that  voting,  even  then, 
would  be  done  by  two  persons  for  themselves 
and  five  others.  The  principle  which  the 
Innovators  condemn  would  still  exist.  To  place 
the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  even  half  of  the 
whole  population,  it  must  be  given  to  more 
than  half  of  those  who  are  now  considered 
minors.  We  consider  the  ties  of  affection 
strong  enough  to  hinder  fathers  from  making 

£5  O  <~3 

unjust  laws  in  regard  to  their  children ;  and,  for 
the  same  reason,  they  can  be  trusted  to  perform 
this  duty  for  their  wives.  Because  minors 
above  fifteen  are  not  allowed  to  vote,  it  by  no 
means  logically  follows  that  women  should  not 
at  any  age ;  but,  if  this  is  just,  it  certainly 
establishes  the  falsehood  of  the  principle  that 
intelligence  should  be  the  only  qualification  of 
voters.  It  goes  to  prove  that  the  intelligence 
of  women  is  not  sufficient  to  establish  their 
claim  to  suffrage,  since  there  may  be  other 
reasons  strong  enough  to  outweigh  this. 
All  people,  young  or  old,  have  a  natural 


132  ECCE  FEMINA. 

right  to  "  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap 
piness."  Suffrage  is  a  mean,  or  expedient,  to 
secure  those  blessings  ;  hence  it  is  a  mere  matter 
of  expediency  as  to  what  part  of  the  people  shall 
be  voters.  That  system  is  best  which  secures 
these  blessings  the  most  perfectly  to  all  the 
people,  with  the  least  trouble  and  expense. 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  133 


CHAPTER    V. 

SHOULD    WOMEN    VOTE,    AND    HOLD    OFFICE? 

'E  are  now  prepared  to  give  a  sum 
mary  of  the  reasons  why  women 
should  not  engage  in  active  politi 
cal  life.  If  the  reader  does  not 
accept  our  conclusions  on  some  points,  it  should 
not  produce  such  a  prejudice  that  other  argu 
ments  will  be  rejected  without  examining  their 
merits.  It  is  true,  that  there  is  a  connection 
between  the  several  arguments,  so  that  one  sup 
ports  the  other ;  yet,  to  a  certain  extent,  each 
must  stand  or  fall  on  its  own  merits,  and  the 
overthrow  of  one  does  not  necessarily  weaken 
the  others.  A  part  of  this  chapter  may  be  a 
repetition  of  what  has  preceded  ;  but  we  wish 
to  bring  all  the  arguments  together,  that  the 
reader  may  take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
whole. 

1.  Difficulties  of  a  Physical  Character.  —  It 
has  been  suggested,  that,  if  women  vote,  they 
can  send  their  ballots  in  a  sealed  envelope,  by 


134  ECCE  FEMINA. 

the  hands  of  men  ;  but  this  would  be  granting 
1oo  much:  hence  the  Innovators  do  not  gen 
erally  favor  this  scheme.  It  would  open  so 
many  avenues  for  fraud,  that  it  could  not  well 
be  practised.  If  women  vote,  they  must  go  to 
the  polls  with  the  men.  In  cities,  the  difficulty 
of  getting  to  the  polls  is  comparatively  small ; 
but,  in  the  country  towns,  this  is  a  matter  of 
considerable  importance.  Some  towns  in  New 
England  are  so  intersected  with  hills,  that  the 
journey  on  election  days  is  quite  an  important 
matter.  Farmers  usually  have  a  horse  ;  but 
there  are  sometimes  three  or  four  villages  in  the 
same  town,  and  the  "  town -house  "  must  be 
several  miles  from  some  of  them.  We*  know 
of  towns  where  some  are  obliged  to  go  ten 
miles  ;  and  five  or  six  miles  is  not  an  unusual 
distance.  At  present,  there  is  no  small  difficulty 
in  securing  a  full  vote  from  the  men.  If 
women  vote,  of  course  the  difficulty  will  be 
more  than  doubled.  But  election-days  are 
often  so  stormy,  that  one-third  of  the  men  stay 
at  home,  and  the  number  of  women  remaining 
at  home  would  probably  be  much  larger.  It 
is  sometimes  necessary  to  hold  town-meetings  in 
the  winter,  when  it  would  be  almost  impossible 
to  secure  the  attendance  of  one-half  of  the 
women.  But,  even  in  good  weather,  men  con- 


POPULAR   SUFFRAGE.  135 

sicler  election-day  one  of  the  most  fatiguing  of 
the  whole  year.  The  crowding  is  considerable 
now,  and  it  would  be  much  worse  if  twice  as 
many  went  to  the  polls.  The  fatigue  would  be 
more  than  most  women  would  wish  to  endure. 

The  expense  of  elections  would  be  increased 
more  than  two-fold  ;  for  it  would  be  necessary 
to  build  town-halls  more  than  twice  as  commo 
dious  as  they  are  now,  to  provide  even  re 
spectable  accommodations  for  the  women.  We 
do  not  think  these  considerations  of  as  much 
importance  as  those  of  another  kind ;  yet  they 
are  worthy  of  notice.  Certainly,  women  should 
not  be  obliged  to  surfer  so  much  inconvenience, 
and  the  taxes  should  not  be  increased,  unless 
there  is  an  important  advantage  to  be  derived 
from  it. 

But  the  result  which  these  obstacles  would 
bring  about  might  be  an  important  matter. 
The  variation  in  the  number  of  voters  at 
different  elections  would  be  much  greater  than 
it  is  now.  One  year  there  would  be  a  fair  dav 
for  election,  and  the  next  might  be  stormy  ;  so 
that  the  vote  in  cities  would  be  much  larger 

o 

than  in  the  country  towns :  hence  one  party 
would  prevail  one  year,  and  another  the  next. 
Stability  is  necessary  to  the  permanence  of  any 
government.  People  have  but  little  respect  for 


136  ECCE  FEMINA. 

laws  that  are  made  one  year,  and  repealed  the 
next.  At  present,  the  wavering  of  public 
opinion  from  year  to  year  is  a  great  evil ;  but 
this  would  be  aggravated  to  an  alarming  extent 
if  women  voted,  as  laws  might  then  depend 
upon  the  state  of  the  weather.  If,  in  addition 
to  this,  women  should  not  take  so  much  interest 
in  politics  as  men  do,  laws  would  be  as 
uncertain  as  though  they  depended  upon  the 
caprice  of  one  man,  and,  in  some  respects,  more 
uncertain  ;  as  an  absolute  monarch  would  be 
kept  within  bounds  through  fear  of  revolt.  '  In 
New  Jersey  the  women  nearly  all  went  to  the 
polls  some  years,  while  only  a  few  went  gen- 
errally.  Lucy  Stone  and  H.  B.  Black  well  are 
responsible  for  the  following  in  regard  to  New 
Jersey.  We  quote  from  Mrs.  Dall's  "  College, 
Market,  and  Court,"  p.  477.  "  That  women 
voted  at  a  very  early  period,  we  are  informed 
by  the  venerable  Mr.  Cyrus  Jones  of  East 
Orange,  who  was  born  in  1770,  and  is  now 
ninety-seven  years  old.  He  says  that  '  old 
maids,  widows,  and  unmarried  women  very 
frequently  voted,  but  married  women  very 
seldom;'  that  'the  right  was  recognized,  and 
very  little  said  or  thought  about  it  in  any  way.' ' 
2.  As  women  do  not  wish  the  duty  of 
suffrage  imposed  upon  them,  it  would  be  unjust 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  137 

to  expect  them  to  go  to  the  polls.  We  have  no 
statistics  to  show  how  many  women  wish  to  vote, 
but  it  is  generally  admitted  that  they  are 
comparatively  few.  Of  those  who  have  signed 
petitions  for  suffrage,  it  is  probable  that  only  a 
minority  have  any  decided  desire  to  go  to  the 
polls.  A  little  urging  would  induce  those  who 
are  indifferent  to  place  their  names  by  the  side 
of  others.  We  know  of  no  one  who  claims 
that  any  considerable  part  of  the  sex  are 
strongly  desirous  of  suffrage  ;  while  it  is  certain 
that  the  great  majority  of  women  not  only  do 
not  desire  it,  but  are  strongly  opposed  to  it. 
We  can  easily  show  that  it  would  be  wrong  to 
grant  the  wishes  of  this  minority. 

As  soon  as  one  woman  is  allowed  to  vote,  it 
becomes  the  duty  of  all.  It  is  only  by  taking 
a  partial  and  one-sided  view  of  suffrage,  that  a 
respectable  minority  of  women  have  been 
coaxed  to  desire  it.  In  one  sense,  suffrage  may 
be  regarded  as  a  right ;  but,  in  its  most  important 
and  permanent  bearings,  it  is  a  duty^  and  one 
that  often  involves  considerable  difficulty.  It 
is  deceptive  and  unfair  to  make  a  great  noise 
about  the  right  of  suffrage,  as  though  it  would 
make  women  happy  all  their  lives  if  they  could 
only  vote.  Suffrage  in  itself  can  only  be 
regarded  as  a  duty  or  task,  involving  more  or 


138  ECCE  FEMINA. 

less  trouble  and  expense.  As  productive  of 
good  in  the  same  sense  that  any  labor  is,  it  may 
be  regarded  as  a  right  or  privilege.  If  women 
are  to  gain  more  than  they  would  lose  by  suf 
frage,  it  would  be  a  privilege  for  them  to  vote ; 
but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  involves  a 
task  upon  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
nature,  more  or  less  severe.  Now,  the  majority 
of  women  believe  that  voting  should  be  classed 
among  the  rougher  duties  which  belong  to  men  ; 
that  they  would  gain  no  substantial  advantage 
thereby  ;  that  they  would  suffer  harm  in  many 
respects :  hence  they  think  that  they  have  a 
natural  right  to  remain  at  home,  and  require  the 
men  to  furnish  them  protection. 

But  some  one  may  say,  a  Let  those  vote  who 
wish  to,  and  the  rest  can  remain  at  home." 
This  sounds  well,  and  seems  fair  ;  but  it  will  not 
bear  examination.  If  women  are  allowed  to 
vote,  wicked  men  will  be  numerous  enough  to 
persuade  or  hire  the  worst  class  of  women  to 
vote  in  support  of  any  scheme ;  hence  it  will  be 
necessary  for  all  upright  women  to  go  to  the 
polls  to  counteract  such  evil  plots,  and  sustain 
morality.  If  any  women  vote,  there  is  no 
safety  for  the  public  unless  they  all  discharge  that 
duty  ;  hence  the  adoption  of  female  suffrage  on 
the  ground  that  the  few  desire  it  would  be  an 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  139 

indirect  method  of  forcing  all  to  vote.  Before 
election,  the  papers,  of  all  parties,  would  impress 
upon  their  readers  the  duty  of  seeing  that 
every  man  and  woman  were  at  the  polls.  The 
leading  political  women  would  look  after  others, 
and  any  woman  who  remained  at  home  would 
be  denounced  as  a  traitor  to  her  principles. 

"  The  Independent"  once  said,  "  Any  class  of 
woaien  who  will  not  vote  are  not  the  better 
class,  for  they  are  false  to  their  duty."  This 
matter  cannot  be  decided  on  the  ground  that  a 
minority  wish  the  ballot,  because  the  whole 
community  is  concerned.  The  Innovators 
have  no  right  to  assume  that  they  are  the  repre 
sentatives  of  women,  and  are  advocating  their 
interests.  If  the  majority  of  women  hold 
erroneous  views,  proper  means  may  be  taken  to 
correct  them  ;  but,  so  long  as  their  views  are 
unchanged,  it  would  be  the  height  of  injustice 
to  adopt  female  suffrage.  If  the  majority  of 
women  desired  suffrage,  there  are  reasons  which 
we  think  sufficient  to  refuse  it ;  but,  as  the  case 
now  stands,  there  cannot  be  the  least  doubt. 
Perhaps  they  will  change  their  opinions;  but 
they  have  considered  the  question  so  long  now, 
that  we  do  not  believe  the  time  will  ever  come 
when  the  majority  of  women  will  wish  to  vote. 

From  making  the  false  assumption  that  they 


140  ECCE  FEMINA. 

are  the  spokesmen  for  women,  and  representa 
tives  of  their  interests,  the  Innovators  advocate 
views  which  are  ridiculously  inconsistent.  When 
any  thing  has  been  said  about  woman's  sphere, 
they  have  replied  with  an  arrogant  tone,  that  no 
man  had  a  right  to  say  what  woman's  sphere  is, 
but  that  they  must  decide  for  themselves ;  yet 
they  assume  with  perfect  confidence  that  politics 
do  come  within  her  sphere  ;  and  "•  The  Indepen 
dent"  has  not  been  alone  in  declaring  that  those 
women  who  would  not  engage  in  politics  were 
'''•false  to  their  duty"  They  have  a  perfect 
right  to  prescribe  to  woman  her  sphere,  while 
we  have  no  right  to  open  our  mouths  on  the 
subject !  If  women  have  a  right  to  decide  what 
their  sphere  is,  they  have  a  right  to  not  engage 
in  politics ;  and  no  handful  of  women  in  a  con 
vention  can  decide  for  the  majority.  Labor 
should  not  be  -regulated  by  law,  and  the  mi 
nority  ought  to  be  allowed  by  society  to  follow 
their  own  tastes,  even  if  some  do  dislike  their 
preferences ;  but  suffrage  must  be  subject  to 
legal  restrictions,  and  the  minority  must  yield. 

The  Innovators,  with  a  great  many  loud 
protestations,  assume  that  they  are  better  friends 
of  woman  than  their  opponents  ;  which  is  not 
true,  if  women  are  good  judges.  Those  who 
make  the  wannest  professions  of  friendship  are 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  141 

not  always  the  best  friends.  Wo  do  pot  deny 
the  fact  that  those  men  who  favor  female  suf 
frage  generally  desire  the  good  of  woman :  but 
their  intentions  are  no  better  than  ours ;  and  we 
who  oppose  them  have  as  good  a  right  to  de 
nounce  them  as  the  enemies  of  woman.  Both 
parties  mean  well,  but  one  or  the  other  is  mis 
taken.  When  we  see  two  men  disputing,  it  is 
generally  safe  to  say  that  the  one  who  makes 
the  most  noise  is  in  the  wrong.  Some  of  those 
who  oppose  female  suffrage  have  been  intem 
perate  and  unreasonable  in  their  arguments,  but 
we  think  not  as  much  so  as  the  Innovators. 
Even  John  Stuart  Mill  seems  to  lose  his  self- 
control  on  this  subject. 

Aside  from  the  injustice  of  forcing  suffrage 
upon  the  fair  sex,  it  would  not  be  good  policy  for 
the  Innovators  to  ask  the  men  to  grant  it  until 
the  women  are  all  earnest  in  demanding  the  privi 
lege,  if  it  is  one.  If  female  suffrage  should  be 
adopted,  perhaps  the  women  might  be  persuaded 
to  go  to  the  polls  once  or  twice  ;  but  by  that  time 
the  novelty  would  be  gone,  and  the  stern  reality 
would  have  a  salutary  influence  on  minds  of 
a  romantic  tendency.  They  would  begin  to 
complain  of  the  crowding,  turmoil,  and  fatigiie  of 
election-days.  They  might  say  that  they  never 
wanted  to  vote,  but  consented  to  try  just  to  please 


142  ECGE  FEMINA. 

the  men.  The  best  of  them  might  think  best  to 
stay  at  home ;  and  irregularities  might  become 
as  enormous  as  they  were  in  New  Jersey,  and 
the  boasted  reform  might  go  under,  as  it  did  in 
that  State.  Or  the  number  of  female  voters 
might  become  so  small  that  it  would  seem  best 
to  go  back  to  the  old  custom.  Mrs.  Dall  in 
forms  us,  on  the  authority  of  a  Mr.  Parker,  that 
the  women  of  New  Jersey  were  not  anxious  to 
retain  the  right  of  suffrage  ;  and,  as  Mill  cannot 
be  satisfied  with  any  thing  short  of  experiment, 
the  trial  in  New  Jersey  ought  to  have  some 
weight.  If  a  trial  now  should  prove  a  failure,  as 
it  did  then,  the  men  who  have  talked  so  glori 
ously  about  this  great  movement  (?)  might  feel 
rather  —  say,  something  as  Jeff  Davis  did 
when  captured  !  Now,  they  can  save  themselves 
from  any  such  mortification.  If  the  Innovators 
will  use  their  imagination  less,  and  common 
sense  more,  they  will  look  at  the  future  not  as  a 
picture  of  their  romantic  hopes,  but  will  see  a 
world  composed  of  good  men  and  women,  and 
bad  men  and  women,  just  as  we  have  them 
now.  We  can  appreciate  the  generous  impulses 
that  have  animated  some  who  advocate  this 
cau§e  ;  but  their  actions  speak  better  for  the4 
heart  than  the  head.  A  warm,  sympathizing 
heart  is  a  blessing  which  any  man  might  covet ; 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  143 

but  it  is  a  poor  thing  to  draw  conclusions  from. 
As  the  cry  of  justice  to  woman  has  been  raised, 
some  have  caught  the  inspiration,  and  rushed 
blindly  to  the  rescue,  without  stopping  to  ex 
amine  carefully  whether  they  were  not  advocat 
ing  measures  which  involved  the  height  of  in 
justice  to  the  majority  of  the  sex.  Enthusiasm 
is  good,  but  an  excess  is  suicidal. 

3.  The  family  should  have  but  one  representa 
tive.  If  there  are  husbands  and  wives  who 
have  so  little  love  for  each  other,  or  such  a 
spasmodic  love,  that  they  cannot  refrain  from 
family  broils,  there  are  certainly  very  few  who 
have  not  respect  enough  for  family  unity  to 
represent  themselves  as  one  in  public.  We  once 
heard  of  a  man  who  was  beating  his  wife  so 

O 

severely  that  she  shouted  for  help.  A  man, 
who  was  passing,  rushed  into  the  house  and 
seized  the  cruel  husband,  when  the  wife  at  once 
took  her  husband's  part,  and  the  intruder  was 
obliged  to  flee  to  save  himself  from  harsh  treat 
ment.  As  a  nation,  we  have  our  disputes  ;  yet 
we  feel  ashamed  of  ourselves  when  we  cannot 
show  other  nations  that  we  are  agreed. 

It  is  not  consistent  with  decency  to  suppose 
that  the  family  will  be  so  divided  against  itself 
that  one  member  will  perform  a  public  act 
directly  antagonistic  to  the  other  ;  hence  it  would 


144  ECCE  FEMINA. 

be  folly  to  increase  the  trouble  and  expense 
two-fold,  when  one  could  perform  the  duty  as 
well  alone.  If  any  one  objects  that  husbands 
and  wives  actually  do  differ  in  politics,  we  reply 
that  government  cannot  recognize  any  such  dif 
ference  ;  that  husband  and  wife  are  supposed  to 
be  one,  and  the  family  is  allowed  to  arrange  its 
own  internal  affairs,  except  when  the  abuse  or 
infidelity  of  one  of  the  parties  is  such  that  the 
interference  of  law  is  necessary.  There  can  ba 
no  general  provision  for  such  cases  ;  but,  on  the 
application  of  one  of  the  parties  to  a  magistrate, 
a  specific  remedy  can  be  applied.  We  think 
that  laws  should  be  so  formed  that  a  wife  will 
be  protected  against  abuse.  Perhaps  there 
might  be  cases  where  the  wife  might  not  wish 
or  deserve  a  divorce,  yet  a  remedy  be  needed. 
For  instance,  if  a  wife  could  give  a  magistrate 
satisfactory  proof  that  her  husband  was  wasting 
property  by  gambling,  drunkenness,  or  in  any 
way  except  by  ordinary  business  mis-calcula 
tions,  then  she,  or  some  one  whom  she  might 
choose,  should  be  allowed  to  control  the  whole 
property,  so  that  he  could  not  use  a  dollar  unless 
it  went  through  her  hands.  If  a  man  worth  a 
million  dollars  should  marry  a  woman  who  had 
no  money  of  her  own,  we  think  that  she  should 
be  considered  an  equal  owner  in  that  property. 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  145 

How  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  If  husband  and 
wife  are  one,  what  either  owns,  the  other  does 
also.  In  case  that  husband  should  be  guilty  of 
adultery  within  a  year  after  marriage,  we  think 
that  a  divorce  should  be  granted  the  wife,  and  a 
division  of  the  property  made,  so  that  she  should 
have  three-fourths  of  the  million  dollars  as  her 
own,  and  he  one-fourth.  In  cases  where  both 
parties  are  in  fault,  the  court  should  be  allowed 
discretionary  powers,  and  allowed  to  divide  ac 
cording  to  guilt.  We  favor  the  most  radical 
measures,  provided  they  are  consistent  with  the 
unity  of  the  family.  We  do  not  see  how  female 
suffrage  can  be  adopted  without  discarding  the 
family,  which  is  the  foundation  of  all  society. 
If  man  is  not  the  proper  representative  of  the 
family,  then  it  must  be  woman.  Both  must  not 
be  sent  to  the  polls.  As  man  is  the  natural 
provider  for  the  family,  and  protector,  and  per 
forms  those  duties  of  a  rough  nature,  we  think 
that  the  duty  of  voting  belongs  more  properly  to 
him.  We  also  believe  that  he  would  perform  it 
better  than  the  wife  would.  There  are  other 
matters  which  she  can  perform  better  than  he 
can  ;  and  it  is  but  reasonable  that  she  should 
have  the  superintendence  of  them,  and  he 
should  be  subordinate,  or  second.  As  the  ma 
jority  of  women  think  that  suffrage  is  a  mascu- 
10 


146  ECCE  FEMINA. 

line  duty,  what  reasonable  objection  can  there 
be  to  the  present  arrangement  ?  Of  the  women 
who  desire  suffrage,  the  reasonable  ones  will  not 
complain  if  they  are  under  the  necessity  of 
yielding  to  the  will  of  the  majority.  Those 
who  are  unreasonable  are  not  worth  noticing. 
We  do  not  undertake  to  divide  them  :  they 
can  place  themselves  in  whichever  class  they 
wish. 

But  some  say,  "  All  we  ask  is,  that  women  be 
placed  where  they  can  defend  their  own  rights." 
If  they  are  not  in  that  position  now,  they  will 
not  be  as  voters.  There  is  abundance  of 
facts  which  show  that  men  generally  have  no 
disposition  to  wrong  women.  If  we  bring  the 
sexes  into  antagonism,  their  sex  will  prevail,  as 
they  are  stronger  than  women.  What  would 
we  think  of  any  one  who  should  say,  in  regard 
to  military  operations,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
arm  'women,  so  that  they  could  defend  them 
selves? —  as  though  it  were  humiliating  that  men 
were  accustomed  to  defend  them  !  God  has  so 
constituted  the  sexes,  that  woman  always  has 
been  obliged  to  depend  upon  man  for  protection, 
and  always  must.  No  woman  has  any  objection 
to  this  arrangement,  unless  she  has  false  ideas 
of  honor,  and  is  burdened  with  self-conceit. 
In  some  respects,  woman  is  dependent  upon  man ; 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  147 

while  in  others,  man  is  dependent  upon  woman. 
The  strong  man  is  as  powerless  as  a  child  before 
the  woman  whom  he  loves.  His  happiness  de 
pends  upon  her  love.  Those  proud  and  haughty 
persons  who  stalk  through  the  world  so  inde 
pendent  of  everybody  else  are  not  usually  wiser 
than  others,  although  they  think  they  are. 

Says  Mill,  "  The  majority  of  women  of  any 
class  are  not  likely  to  differ  in  political  opinion 
from  the  majority  of  men  of  the  same  class,  un 
less  the  question  be  one  in  which  the  interests 
of  women,  as  such,  are  in  some  way  involved  ; 
and  if  they  are  so,  women  require  the  suffrage 
as  their  guaranty  of  just  and  equal  considera 
tion."  The  facts  in  regard  to  the  laws  in  this 
country,  to  which  we  have  already  alluded,  are 
sufficient  to  disprove  the  last  part  of  this  asser 
tion.  His  admission  that  the  sexes  would  gen 
erally  agree  is  all  that  we  could  ask  of  him  on 
this  point ;  for  laws  are  made  in  accordance  with 
the  circumstances  of  the  majority.  To  say  the 
least,  female  suffrage  would  be  the  cause  of  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  and  expense  to  no  purpose. 
If  it  can  be  said  that  the  wife  is  governed,  it  cer 
tainly  is  by  her  own  consent.  It  seems  a  little 
strange  that  the  Innovators  have  such  strong 
faith  in  men,  that  they  feel  confident  of  per 
suading  them  to  adopt  female  suffrage ;  while 


148  ECCE  FEMINA. 

they  have  so  little  faith  in  them,  that  they  are 
not  supposed  capable  of  doing  justice  to  wo 
men  !  If  men  will  grant  the  greater,  will  they 
not  the  less  ?  It  is  contrary  to  the  principle 
which  underlies  all  society,  to  suppose  that  men 
and  women  constitute  two  classes  with  opposite 
interests.  They  are  one,  and  their  interests  one. 
The  bond  of  love  which  unites  husband  and 
wife  is  stronger  than  any  law.  Those  who 
marry  without  love  should  be  left  to  their  own 
punishment.  Law  should  make  no  general 
provision  for  such.  God  does  not  suspend 
a  general  law  to  benefit  the  man  who  thrusts 
his  hand  into  the  fire.  Provision  for  marriage 
without  love  encourages  the  crime. 

4.  Woman's  nature  is  not  adapted  to  political 
duties.  We  think  that  we  have  shown  the  injus 
tice  of  requiring  women  to  vote  ;  and,  if  it  is  con 
trary  to  their  nature,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that 
they  never  will  generally  desire  to  take  part 
in  politics.  The  Innovators  may  hold  conven 
tions  in  every  town  in  the  United  States,  and 
continue  them  for  a  hundred  years ;  and  we 
venture  the  prophecy  that  the  women  desiring 
to  vote  would  then  be  in  the  minority.  If  the 
nature  of  the  fair  sex  is  not  adapted  to  politi 
cal  life,  it  is  not  unjust  to  exclude  them  from 
office.  As  this  is  a  subject  for  law  :  it  is  not 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  149 

consistent  with  the  public  good  to  provide  for 
exceptions. 

The  sensitive  nature  of  virtuous  women  gen 
erally  shrinks  from  public  places,  where  men  of 
all  classes,  including  the  baser  sort,  are  congre 
gated.  We  have  noticed  the  physical  difficul 
ties  of  election-days,  but  the  mental  and  moral 
obstacles  are  of  a  still  more  serious  nature. 
The  excitement,  and  coarse,  not  to  say  vulgar, 
talk  of  men  at  such  times  is  peculiarly  repug 
nant  to  women.  Some  have  asserted,  that,  if 
respectable  women  went  to  the  polls,  bad  men 
would  stay  away ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  ex 
pect  this.  Politicians  will  be  sure  that  no 
wicked  man  remains  at  home ;  and  this  class 
would  hardly  be  frightened  or  shamed  by  man 
or  woman.  In  spite  of  laws,  some  men  will 
have  liquor;  and,  when  they  do  not  drink  enough 
to  subject  themselves  to  arrest,  their  actions  and 
appearance  are  not  particularly  pleasant  to  a  wo 
man.  Even  if  order  and  decency  should  prevail 
to  a  greater  extent  than  they  do  now,  still  it 
would  be  a  rough  and  contaminating  place.  We 
cannot  select  model  towns,  and  draw  conclusions 
from  them  ;  but  we  must  reason  from  town- 
meetings  as  they  average.  The  crowd  would 
be  twice  as  large  as  it  is  now,  and  a  rough  scene 
of  turmoil  would  be  almost  inevitable.  Per- 


150  ECCE  FEMINA. 

haps  some  have  taken  pleasure  in  dreaming  over 
the  peace,  order,  and  quiet  that  would  prevail  at 
the  polls  when  women  vote  ;  but  there  is  no  rea 
son  to  expect  that  such  hopes  would  be  realized. 

Coarse  and  brutal  men  would  have  little  regard 

& 

for  the  delicacy  of  woman,  when  influenced  by 
liquor  and  the  excitement  of  voting.  If  women 
meet  men  on  their  own  ground,  they  would  soon 
lose  that  respect  which  they  now  command,  and 
men  would  soon  show  them  no  more  deference 
than  one  of  their  own  sex.  Brutal  men  are 
never  restrained  by  any  thing  but  the  strong 
arm  of  an  officer. 

If  women  vote,  one  of  two  things  must  hap 
pen:  they  will  take  no  interest  in  politics,  and 
avoid  contamination  as  much  as  possible,  and 
so  will  be  but  a  dead  weight,  without  any  great 
influence ;  or,  they  will  engage  with  the  same 
zeal  as  men,  and,  to  be  successful,  must  become 
assimilated  to  their  work ;  that  is,  their  natures 
must  be  more  masculine.  We  do  not  believe 
that  they  can  become  just  like  men ;  but  they 
can  be  changed  enough  to  destroy  much  that  is 
lovely  and  noble  in  them  now,  while  they  will 
have  made  but  an  imperfect  attainment  of  that 
which  is  desirable  in  man.  It  will  be  easier  for 
them  to  imitate  the  faults  of  men  than  their 
virtues. 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  151 

Would  woman  elevate  politics  or  would  poli 
tics  degrade  woman  ?  Which  is  the  most 
probable?  It  is  said  that  every  man  has  his 
forte.  If  he  can  meet  another  on  his  own 
ground,  he  will  be  triumphant.  If  his  antagonist 
has  the  choice  of  position  or  weapons,  he  is  as 
sure  to  fall  as  he  was  to  win  in  the  former 
case.  Now,  women  are  superior  to  men  in 
some  respects ;  and  if  they  can  get  them  where 
there  is  the  best  chance  to  display  their  own 
powers,  while  those  of  the  men  are  taken  at 
disadvantage,  the  women  will  prevail,  and  vice 
versa.  In  society,  where  there  is  an  excellent 
chance  for  woman  to  display  her  quick,  warm, 
sensitive  nature,  and  her  powers  are  free  from 
restraint,  she  will  prevail  over  man,  and  restrain 
his  evil  tendencies.  The  rough  strength  of  man 
does  not  serve  him  here,  and  he  yields.  But 
if  women  go  into  the  rugged  paths  which  men 
tread,  they  are  out  of  their  element,  and  com 
paratively  powerless.  Their  delicacy  was  not 
intended  for  grappling  with,  the  forces  here 
arrayed  against  them.  While  the  sterner  and 
coarser  part  of  man's  nature  is  in  its  glory  on 
election-days,  a  woman's  influence  would  hardly 
be  felt.  She  would  be  obliged  to  retire  from 
such  scenes,  or  yield  to  their  influence.  The 
power  would  remain  in  the  hands  of  men  as 


152  ECCE  FEM1NA. 

much  as  it  is  now.  Suppose  men  should  be 
dissatisfied  with  the  social  supremacy  of  women, 
and  resolve  to  cultivate  grace  and  refinement,  in 
the  hope  that  they  might  equal  women  in  quick 
ness  and  delicacy,  as  well  as  in  nobility  and 
generosity  of  heart,  so  that  their  nature  would 
be  as  sensitive  and  sympathizing  as  woman's. 
Suppose  they  should  expect  to  succeed,  and 
hope  thereby  to  be  allowed  to  keep  their  seats 
in  the  cars  and  allow  women  to  stand,  and  be 
allowed  to  treat  women  in  society  with  no 
more  respect  than  they  show  each  other.  Who 
believes  they  would  succeed  ?  and  who  sup 
poses  that  they  would  be  able  to  imitate  more 
than  the  faults  of  women,  without  acquiring 
their  virtues  ?  Who  does  not  feel  confident 
that  they  would  have  parted  with  their  own 
excellences  without  receiving  any  thing  in  re 
turn  ?  If  this  is  true  in  regard  to  men,  we 
must  suppose  women,  on  the  whole,  superior  to 
them,  if  they  are  able  to  enter  the  rough  scenes 
of  public  life,  and  triumph.  Superiority  in  oppo 
site  characteristics  cannot  be  combined  in  the 
same  individual.  If  it  were  possible  for  women 
to  triumph  in  public  life,  it  would  necessarily  be 
at  the  expense  of  parting  with  what  they  now 
have.  Some  will  not  believe  this,  but  all  human 
experience  is  against  them.  The  probability  is, 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  153 

that  women  would  lose  their  present  position, 
without  gaining  any  thing.  It  is  a  wise  proverb 
which  says,  "  Grasp  all,  lose  all." 

Wendell  Phillips  has  well  said,  that  there  is  in 
the  human  mind  an  idea  which  demands  "  fair 
play."  If  women  generally  should  demand 
political  equality,  the  majority  of  men  might 
say,  "  Very  well,  you  shall  have  it ;  but  you 
must  take  its  logical  consequences.  There  must 
be  equality  everywhere.  In  social  circles  we 
must  be  your  equals.  We  shall  no  longer  pay 
homage  to  woman.  In  public  and  in  private 
you  shall  be  treated  like  men,  —  no  better,  no 
worse.  You  stand  on  your  dignity,  and  say  that 
you  do  not  wish  to  be  protected :  all  you  ask  is 
that  you  be  allowed  to  protect  yourselves  !  Ap 
point  your  own  police-officers.  Take  your 
chances  in  war  with  the  men  ;  for  so  great  a 
man  as  Plato  thought  that  women  could  and 
should  be  allowed  to  perform  the  lighter  kinds 
of  military  duty ;  and  Lydia  Maria  Child  says, 
in  '  The  Independent,'  '  Even  in  physical 
strength,  I  doubt  whether  there  is  so  much 
difference  between  men  and  women  as  has  been 
generally  assumed.  Female  slaves  did  as  much 
and  as  hard  work  upon  the  plantations  as  the 
male  slaves.  In  the  long  tramps  of  Indian 
tribes,  the  women  carry  all  the  heavy  burdens, 


154  ECCE  FEMINA. 

in  addition  to  their  children,  strapped  upon 
their  backs.'  John  Stuart  Mill,  your  best 
friend  (!),  says,  '  There  are  no  means  of  find 
ing  what  either  one  person  or  many  can  do,  but 
by  trying.'  You  have  never  been  allowed  to 
study  military  science,  because  men  wished  to 
keep  the  power  in  their  hands  ;  but  we  now 
admit  your  equality  !  It  is  true,  these  ideas  con 
flict  with  the  prejudices  of  conservatives,  but  all 
must  yield  to  'the  spirit  of  the  age.'  Equal 
rights  to  all !" 

Who  could  say  that  there  would  be  any 
unfairness  on  the  part  of  men  if  they  should 
say  the  above  to  women,  in  case  they  should 
accept  the  doctrines  of  the  Innovators,  and  de 
mand  suffrage  as  a  right?  The  above  is  no 
mere  burlesque.  It  would  be  as  fair  and  candid 
as  the  demands  of  the  Innovators.  They  make 
their  ridiculously  fair  statements  and  arguments 

v  O 

on  the  supposition  that  the  sexes  are  equal  in  all 
respects  ;  when,  in  fact,  one  sex  is  superior  in  and 
should  have  the  control  of  one  sphere  of  action, 
while  the  other  sex  is  superior  in  and  should 
have  the  control  of  another  sphere.  This  is  the 
only  kind  of  equality  that  has  existed  or  ever  can 
exist  between  the  sexes.  Women  have  so  much 
good  sense  that  the  majority  of  them  never  will 
wish  to  engage  in  political  life  :  hence  men  will 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  155 

never  be  under  the  necessity  of  replying  as  we 
have  represented  them.  This,  boasted  reform 
of  female  suffrage  *  must  and  will  prove  a  fail 
ure  !  The  Innovators  may  agitate  till  doomsday, 
and  the 'majority  of  women  will  only  sit  and 
smile  at  their  enthusiasm.  Good  will  come  out 
of  this  commotion,  but  it  will  not  be  in  the  way 
some  expect. 

Why  would  office-holding  corrupt  women 
more  than  men  ?  Why  would  wickedness  pre 
vail  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  does  now  ?  Many 
might  reply  at  once  that  such  would  not  be  the 
result.  This  must  not  be  decided  by  a  superficial 
examination,  nor  can  this  be  decided  by  citing 
one  or  two  instances  :  we  must  reason  from  the 
general  characteristics  of  the  sexes.  We  believe 
that  one  sex  is  naturally  as  upright  and  honest 
as  the  other.  Under  present  circumstances, 
women  are  better  than  men.  A  woman's 
nature  is  so  sympathetic,  her  affections  are  so 
strong,  and  her  feelings  are  so  much  stronger 
than  any  other  part  of  her  nature,  that  a  shrewd 
politician,  by  assisting  her  in  some  matter  of 
minor  importance,  and  sympathizing  with  some 
of  her  plans,  could  obtain  such  a  firm  hold  of 
her  generosity  that  -she  would  easily  be  led  to 
assist  him  in  promoting  almost  any  scheme.  An 
act  that  at  first  would  appear  to  her  unjust 


156  ECCE  FEMINA. 

would  be  so  explained,  that,  in  the  end,  it  would 
seem  to  her  infinitely  meaner  to  forsake  the 
man  who  had  been  so  good  to  her,  than  to^sup- 
port  any  measure.  With  women  in  Congress, 
"log-rolling"  would  become  a  ten-fold  worse 
evil  than  it  is  now,  and  men  would  generally 
get  the  best  end  of  the  bargain.  The  above  is 
true  in  regard  to  the  majority  of  honest  women. 
Wicked  and  corrupt  women  would,  we  think, 
get  the  advantage  of  the  men  sometimes,  per 
haps  as  often  as  men  would  cheat  them  in  a  polit 
ical  bargain.  Men  would  sometimes  be  placed 
in  such  a  position  that  they  would  not  dare  to 
refuse  a  woman's  request  to  vote  for  a  certain 
measure.  Kings  have  often  decided  important 
measures  through  the  influence  of  a  mistress ; 
not  in  accordance  with  justice,  but  in  accordance 
with  the  wishes  of  that  wicked  companion.  We 
do  not  suppose  that  there  would  be  intrigues 
between  one-half  of  the  Congressmen  and  Con- 
gresswomen ;  but  who  does  not  believe  that 
there  would  be  some  instances  of  this  kind  ? 
But  the  great  evil  of  a  promiscuous  legislative 
assembly  would  be,  that  questions  would  not  be 
decided  according  to  justice  and  reason,  but  by 
influence  brought  to  bear  by  different  members 
of  each  sex  upon  each  other.  A  man  can  be 
more  easily  influenced  by  a  woman  than  by  an- 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  157 

other  man.  Lobbyists  understand  this,  and  em 
ploy  them  sometimes.  Corruption  is  prevalent 
enough  in  legislative  assemblies  now ;  and  we 
have  every  reason  to  think  that  it  would  be 
much  worse  with  women  in  them.  We  think 
that  a  Congress  composed  entirely  of  women 
would  be  preferable  to  one  composed  of  an  equal 
number  of  both  sexes.  Perhaps  some  may 
think  that  we  ought  not  to  write  about  such 
matters;  but  we  think  it  false  delicacy  to  cloak 
them  when  everybody  knows  that  this  is  one  of 
the  most  important  questions  involved  in  the 
discussion  of  this  subject. 

"  The  Independent,"  in  reviewing  Mill's  "Sub 
jection  of  Women,"  says,  "  Nine  out  of  every  ten 
men  and  women  who  oppose  Mr.  Mill's  views, 
and  who  have  any  thing  like  reasonable  ground, 
any  thing  better  than  stupid  conventionality  and 
blind  prejudice,  to  support  them,  would  say.  if 
they  spoke  out  openly  and  honestly,  that  this 
dread  of  the  moral  consequences  of  such  a  free 
intermingling  of  the  sexes  as  woman's  political 
emancipation  ought  to  produce  and  encourage, 
is  their  strongest  objection  to  the  movement. 
Like  everybody  else  engaged  in  the  public  dis 
cussion,  Mr.  Mill  has  ignored  this  part  of  the 
question.  "The  argument  has  not  been  formally 
and  publicly  raised  against  him,  and  he  has 


158  EVCE  FEMINA. 

not  apparently  felt  called  upon  to  answer  and 
discuss  it.  We  know  perfectly  well  what  his 
own  opinion  would  be.  Mr.  Mill's  belief  in  the 
capacity  of  the  human  race  for  self-control  and 
moral  purity  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  his  faiths. 
To  him  it  seems  clear,  that,  whatever  extends 
education  among  women  promotes  the  morality 
alike  of  men  and  women ;  and  this  princi 
ple  he  would,  of  course,  apply  to  the  political 
emancipation  he  now  advocates.  Still,  one  can 
not  deny  or  doubt  the  deep  and  general  influ 
ence  of  the  argument  to  which  we  have 
alluded ;  and  we  cannot  help  regretting  that 
Mr.  Mill  did  not  go  a  little  out  of  his  way, 
were  that  necessary,  to  give  it  a  full  and  frank 
consideration." 

The  belief  of  Mr.  Mill  or  Mr.  Tilton  "  in 
the  capacity  of  the  human  race  for  self-control 
and  moral  purity "  may  be  good  proof  that 
these  gentlemen  have  sanguine  and  confiding 
natures,  but  cari  have  little  weight  in  the  decis 
ion  of  this  question,  so  long  as  there  is  such  a 
strong  array  of  facts  against  such  belief.  The 
history  of  the  world  shows  that  the  only  sure 
way  of  resisting  temptation  is  to  avoid  it. 
Some  persons,  when  they  have  once  formed 
good  habits,  can  resist  temptation,  no  matter  how 
great  its  allurements  ;  but  quite  a  large  portion 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  159 

of  the  race  cannot,  or  certainly  never  have. 
In  regard  to  this  question,  it  does  not  matter  if 
we  do  not  know  the  exact  proportion  of  the 
race  which  can  resist  the  temptation  alluded  to ; 
bnt  this  much  we  are  sure  of,  that  an  increase 
of  temptation  will  produce  an  increase  of  crime, 
and  vice  versa.  We  can  calculate  this  with  as 
much  certainty  as  we  can  that  an  addition  of 
fuel  to  the  fire  will  produce  an  increase  of 
heat.  Those  who  feel  confident  that  they  can 
resist  any  seductive  influence  generally  pay  for 
their  temerity  by  yielding  to  the  tempter.  Hu 
man  nature  is  such,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  gov 
ernment  to  make  the  amount  of  temptation 
as  small  as  possible.  Has  Theodore  Tilton  such 
strong  faith  in  man's  power  of  self-control, 
that  he  would  multiply  dram-shops  for  the 
sake  of  promoting  any  measure  ? 

If  any  one  says  that  women  can  engage  in 
politics,  and  still  avoid  their  influence,  we  reply, 
If  women  are  to  touch  politics  only  with  the 
tips  of  their  fingers,  they  had  better  remain 
where  they  are.  Unless  they  engage  in  politi 
cal  life  with  the  same  zeal  that  men  do,  they 
can  benothino-  better  than  a  dead  weio-ht,  and  a 

O  O        ' 

hinderance  to  action. 

Some  have  such  strong  faith  that  women  would 
reform  politics,  that  a  trial  would  probably  sadly 


160  ECCE  FEMINA. 

disappoint  their  hopes.  We  do  not  see  where 
they  can  find  facts  to  substantiate  these  hopes. 
Women  are  not  so  stupid  that  they  could  not  try 
political  scheming.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since 
there  was  considerable  comment  on  the  coali 
tion  formed  in  Kansas  between  Mrs.  Stanton, 
Miss  Anthony,  and  George  Francis  Train.  It 
was  not  of  quite  as  much  importance  as  the  one 
in  which  Fox  figured,  but  was  as  little  expected. 
This  is  sufficient  to  show  what  might  happen,  if 
women  should  engage  in  politics.  We  have 
every  reason  to  think  that  they  would  form  po 
litical  schemes  and  combinations,  the  same  as  men 
do ;  and  they  would  probably  be  more  frequent 
and  dangerous  than  those  which  are  formed  by 
one  sex  alone.  If  two  of  the  most  prominent 
and  substantial  leaders  among  the  women  who 
demand  suffrage  have  learned  the  politician-'s 
tactics  already,  we  might  expect  more  of  the 
same  kind  if  they  were  in  Congress. 

In  the  article  by  Mrs.  Child,  to  which  we 
have  referred,  she  says,  u  Few  things  con 
nected  with  public  affairs  have  given  me  so 
much  pain  and  mortification  as  to  observe  oc 
casional  indications  that  some  women  were  will 
ing  to  set  aside  the  freedman's  right  to  vote, 
thinking  thereby  to  hasten  the  acknowledg 
ment  of  their  own.  That  there  is  one 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  161 

woman  who  would  gain  freedom  for  herself  by 
violating  principles  of  freedom  with  regard  tQr 
other  human  beings  indicates  a  latent  disease, 
against  which  it  behooves  us  to  take  warning  in 
time."  Mrs.  Dall,  on  discovering  a  scheme  of 
this  nature,  says,  u  If  women  seek  to  advance 
their  own  cause  by  mean  and  meretricious 
tricks,  such  as  those  which  have  dishonored 
the  policy  of  men,  may  God  forever  disap 
point  their  hope !  I  would  rather  be  defeated 
with  the  friends  of  liberty,  than  crowned  with 
its  foes.  It  is  because  I  believe  woman  strong 
enough  to  withstand  the  low  and  loose  and  de 
grading  temptations  of  public  life,  that  I  would 
lead  her  towards  it.  If  she  cannot  enter  it  as 
an  inspiration,  may  she  be  forever  shut  out !  " 
Such  rebukes  are  needed  already ;  and  more 
severe  ones  would  be  needed  if  women  should 
really  engage  in  politics.  The  Devil  has  hot  a 
reputation  for  honesty,  but  can  present  as  good 
a  claim  to  shrewdness  as  anybody.  He  proba 
bly  has  not  forgotten  his  success  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  as  he  has  employed  the  same  tactics 
thousands  of  times  since.  If  women  should 
engage  in  political  life,  and,  in  the  course  of  time, 
Satan  should  think  best  to  send  a  few  apples  to 
Congress,  it  would  not  be  strano-e  if  he  sent 

O  7  O 

them  by  the  hands  of  women.     The  very  char- 
11 


162  ECCE  FEMINA. 

acteristics  which  render  woman  less  fit  for  poli- 
.Jics  than  man  are  her  glory  in  her  present 
position.  Sin  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the 
use  of  all  or  any  part  of  our  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  nature  for  a  different  purpose  from 
that  for  which  it  was  intended  by  the  Creator. 

If  we  suppose  the  greatest  encouragement 
0-iven  to  women  to  engage  in  the  same  kinds  of 

£?  O     & 

labor  and  in  the  same  professions  that  men  do, 
still,  the  time  would  never  come  when  the  great 
majority  would  not  be  wives,  and  on  that  ac 
count  so  occupied  that  they  could  not  attend 
to  any  trade  or  profession.  For  this  reason, 
women  never  will  be  as  well  informed  on  finan 
cial  and  other  matters  of  public  interest  as  men 
are.  Probably  three-fourths  of  the  bills  that 
corne  before  our  legislatures  every  year  are 
about  matters  of  which  women  could  have  no^ 
opportunity  to  obtain  the  knowledge  that  men 
have.  If  it  was  desirable,  it  would  not  be  possi 
ble,  to  place  any  considerable  portion  of  the  sex 
in  a  position  to  be  as  well  acquainted  with  pub 
lic  affairs  as  men  are. 

Some  may  think  that  women  should  be 
eligible  to  office  if  they  do  not  vote,  as  there 
may  be  some  who  are  eminently  qualified  for 
office.  We  think  that  we  have  given  reasons 
enough  already  to  answer  this.  Aside  from 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  163 

the  danger  of  providing  for  exceptions,  it  is  no 
more  than  just  that  each  sex  should  have  the 
important  positions  and  emoluments  of  its  own 
sphere.  It  would  be  a  very  rare  occurrence, 
when  a  woman  qualified  for  any  public  place 
would  desire  it.  Doubtless,  many  would  desire 
office  who  were  riot  fit  for  any  responsible 
position.  Perhaps  it  is  hardly  necessary  that 
there  should  be  any  law  against  woman's  hold 
ing  office,  as  the  matter  will  take  care  of  itself 
without  any  law. 

The  fact  that  female  suffrage  has  been 
discussed  in  every  house  in  the  country  for 
several  years,  and  women  still  shrink  from  poli 
tics,  is  enough  to  show  that  it  is  discordant  with 
their  nature.  It  is  useless  to  assert  that  they 
do  not  speak  their  real  opinions  for  fear  of  dis 
pleasing  the  men.  There  are  probably  more 
men  in  the  country  now  in  favor  of  female  suf 
frage  than  women.  Many  of  those  who  op 
pose  the  movement  are  the  energetic,  inde 
pendent  sort  of  women,  who  speak  their 
opinions  frankly  to  everybody.  It  cannot 
truthfully  be  said,  that  the  women  have  not 
candidly  considered  the  subject,  but  are  cling 
ing  blindly  to  those  customs  which  have  helped 
form  their  characters.  Some  of  the  most  cele 
brated  literary  women  of  the  country,  as  well 


164  ECGE  FEMINA. 

as  the  most  highly  '..educated,  are  opposed  to 
female  suffrage.  Certainly,  there  is  no  woman 
who  opposes  the  measure,  more  blinded  by 
prejudice  than  some  who  favor  it. 

Our  attention  is  often  called  to  such  queens 
as  Isabella,  Elizabeth,  Maria  Theresa,  and 
others,  who  have  been  eminent  rulers.  Mill 
claims  that  queens  have,  on  the  average,  been 
better  than  kings,  and  adds,  u  This  fact  is  so 
undeniable,  that  some  one,  long  ago,  tried  to 
retort  the  argument,  and  turned  the  admitted 
truth  into  an  additional  insult,  by  saying,  that 
queens  are  better  than  kings,  because,  under 
kings,  women  govern,  but,  under  queens, 
men."  He  considers  this  a  bad  joke,  and  en 
deavors  to  show  that  it  is  not  true.  It  cannot 
well  bo  denied  that  there  is  some  truth  in  the 
statement,  that,  under  queens,  the  influence  of 
men  has  generally  been  great.  Who  would 
give  Victoria  any  considerable  share  of  the 
credit  of  the  important  measures  that  have 
characterized  her  reign  ?  It  is  well  known 
that  Elizabeth  was  capricious  and  wilful ;  and 
we  do  not  see  how  the  glory  of  her  reign 
can  be  to  any  great  degree  ascribed  to  her.  A 
re-action  would  have  taken  place  after  Mary's 
reign  under  a  good  but  mediocre  queen.  But  why 
do  not  the  Innovators  lay  stress  upon  the  gov- 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  165 

erning  power  of  such  women  as  Catherine  de 
Medici  and  Bloody  Mary  ?  Mill  refers  to  fe 
male  rulers  in  Hindoo  principalities,  as  evi 
dence  of  the  governing  capacity  of  women. 
The  world  knows  but  little  about  the  circum 
stances  which  surround  the  men  and  women 
who  have  ruled  in  that  heathen  country ;  but, 
if  we  are  not  mistaken,  both  sexes  are  "  emi 
nently  artificial "  there ;  and,  according  to 
Mill's  own  reasoning,  we  could  learn  but  little 
about  the  natural  ability  of  Hindoos  of  either 
sex.  At  all  events,  the  number  of  female 
rulers  has  not  been  so  great,  and  their  indi 
vidual  influence  so  distinct,  that  we  could  form 
any  conclusion  for  or  against  the  governing 
capacity  of  women  in  general.  Besides,  the 
position  of  queens  was  almost  entirely  un 
like  that  which  would  be  occupied  by  a  woman 
engaged  in  American  politics.  The  most  of 
their  administrative  acts  were  performed  in  a 
comparatively  private  way.  Nearly  all  that 
they  did  in  public  was  to  display  the  royal 
robes. 

5.  TJiere  is  no  good  reason  for  changing  the 
present  system  of  voting.  We  hardly  think 
any  one  would  favor  female  suffrage,  without 
entertaining  the  hope  that  some  good  would 
result  from  its  adoption.  There  are  some  who 


166  ECGE  FEMINA. 

have  strong  faith  ;  but  there  is  a  serious  difficul 
ty,  since  their  hope  is  not  well  grounded.  We 
have  been  told  that  the  ballot  would  secure  for 
woman  a  better  education,  higher  wages,  more 
self-respect,  a  higher  social  position,  &c.,  &c. 
No  well-informed  person  will  claim  that  wages 
can  be  affected  to  any  considerable  extent  by 
the  ballot.  The  price  of  labor  must  depend 
upon  quality,  as  well  as  supply  and  demand. 
Experience  has  proved  that  equal  laws  can 
be  obtained  without  female  suffrage.  The 
numerous  other  blessings  which  we  are  told 
would  be  so  freely  showered  upon  the  heads 
of  the  fair  sex  are  .so  remotely  connected 
with  suffrage,  that  it  requires  a  vivid  imagi 
nation  to  enable  a  person  of  sanguine  temper- 
men  t  to  discover  any  relation  between  them. 
Reforms  usually  have  something  besides  "  con 
jectures  "  for  a  foundation.  The  Innovators 
have  never  made  a  respectable  attempt  to  prove 
that  the  blessings  which  they  have  dwelt  upon 
have  any  connection  with  female  suffrage. 
They  have  falsely  asserted  that  women  were 
slaves,  and  then  allowed  their  vision  to  feast 
upon  the  glories  of  their  emancipation  !  They 
have  told  us  that  certain  results  would  be  pro 
duced  ;  but  the  world  will  not  rest  satisfied  with 
such  assertions.  The  Innovators  have  become 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  167 

'so  accustomed  to  exaggeration,  that  they  would 
probably  all  be  astonished  at  themselves  if  they 
should  quietly  sit  down  and  examine  the  plain, 
unvarnished  facts  of  the  case.  They  would 
discover  that  they  had  made  a  great  noise  about 
some  very  small  matters.  The  public  have 
been  deceived  and  hoodwinked  by  facts ! 
Great  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  sufferings  of 

O 

laboring  women,  and  other  evils  have  received 
due  attention ;  and  the  sympathy  of  the  public 
aroused  in  this  way,  although  these  facts  have 
not  the  remotest  relation  to  female  suffrage. 

C3 

There  are  some  objections  raised  against  the 
present  system,  which  we  feel  called  upon  to 
answer.  All  who  read  "The  Independent"  are, 
or  ought  to  be,  admirers  of"  M.  C.  A.,"  a  woman 
who  favors  female  suffrage,  while  she  does  not 
allow  her  imagination  to  picture  women  as 
slaves  and  men  as  cut-throats.  We  quote  the 
following  from  one  of  her  letters  to  "  The  Inde 
pendent,"  as  it  probably  contains  the  views  of  a 
large  number.  From  the  connection,  we  should 
not  think  that  it  necessarily  embodies  the  views 
of  "  M.  C.  A.,"  but  is  rather  a  statement  of 
facts  than  an  expression  of  her  opinion  :  — 

"  You,  an  intelligent,  educated,  thoughtful 
man,  would  feel  it  to  be  an  insult,  if  some 
ignorant  woman,  intellectually  and  morally 


168  ECCE  FEMINA. 

your  inferior,  should  declare  to  you  that  you 
had  no  right  to  the  elective  franchise  solely 
because  you  are  a  man.  And  you  would  feel 
still  more  deeply  outraged  if  the  balance  of  po 
litical  power  were  placed  with  the  ignorant  and 
depraved,  solely  on  the  basis  of  sex,  while  you, 
amenable  to  every  law,  were  denied  all  voice, 
solely  on  account  of  yours.  The  intelligent, 
educated,  thoughtful  woman  can  feel  no  differ 
ently  when  an  ignorant  boor  looks  into  her 
face,  and  assures  her  that  she  is  entitled  to  no 
political  right  which  he  enjoys,  because  she  is  a 
woman.  Personally  she  may  have  no  desire  to 
vote ;  yet  the  human  nature  in  her  feels  a  sense 
of  outrage,  that  such  as  he  may  control  the 
laws  which  govern  her,  solely  through  the  caste 
of  sex.  Think  of  an  intellectual  woman,  who 
had  consecrated  her  best  powers  to  the  redemp 
tion  of  his  race,  being  told  by  a  man  born  a 
slave,  and  but  two  years  free,  '  Women  had  no 
right  to  vote,  because  they  were  women.'  The 
fact  cannot  be  denied,  that  many  women,  who 
would  have  been  content  that  their  fathers  and 
husbands  should  have  legislated  for  them  to 
their  dying  day,  are  now  fully  committed  to 
female  suffrage  through  their  antagonism  to  this 
spirit  universal  among  freedmen,  and  to  the 
same  spirit  in  the  ignorant  and  brutalized  thou- 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  169 

sands  who  swarm  from  foreign  lands  to  become 
naturalized  voters  in  this  republic.  In  them,  it 
is  the  spontaneous  protest  of  intellect  and  spirit 
against  the  supremacy  of  brutality  and  vice." 

In  this  same  letter,  she  makes  some  excuses  for 
those  women  who  scream  the  story  of  their  own 
personal  wrongs  on  every  possible  occasion ;  or, 
rather,  an  excuse  for  the  Innovators  for  having 
such.  u  Certain  it  is,  that  the  great  army  of  the 
queer  and  crazy  march  instinctively  after  every 
thing  new.  .  .  .  Yet  it  is  a  very  narrow  vision 
which  sees  nothing  but  the  crudities  and  absurd 
ities  of  outward  forms."  We  think  that  the 
Innovators  have  a  greater  share  of  followers  who 
are  either  "queer"  or  "crazy"  than  reforms 
usually  have  ;  yet  we  admit  that  the  subject 
should  not  be  disregarded  on  this  account : 
although  the  large  number  of  such  followers  af 
fords  a  presumption  that  there  is  something 
erratic  in  the  movement.  It  would  not  be  worth 
while  to  notice  what  these  u  crazy  "  people  say,  if 
more  sensible  persons  did  not  agree  with  them. 
If  the  Innovators  should  not  be  judged  from 
the  wild  remarks  of  such,  neither  should  the 
opponents  of  female  suffrage  by  the  language 
or  conduct  of  "  an  ignorant  boor."  At  the  first 
thought,  it  does  seem  rather  unjust,  that  the 
lowest  man  in  the  community  can  vote,  while 


170  EGOE  FEMINA. 

the  wisest  woman  cannot ;  but  a  moment's  re 
flection  will  convince  any  one  that  only  an 
imaginary  advantage  would  be  gained  by  female 
suffrage,  for  the  lowest  and  most  degraded 
women  would  vote  as  well  as  others,  so  that  the 
relative  strength  of  the  two  classes  would  be  the 
same  as  it  is  now.  If  this  argument  is  good  for. 
any  thing,  it  is  good  against  popular  suffrage. 
Women  ought  not  to  become  indignant  at  the 
remarks  of  the  ignorant,  and  form  their  opinions 
on  a  great  social  question  under  the  influence  of 
their  feelings.  The  men  should  not,  and  gen 
erally  do  not,  pay  much  attention  to  the  remarks 
of  those  "  crazy  "  man-haters  whose  sole  purpose 
it  is  to  scold,  and  complain  of  their  lot.  On  the 
other  hand,  women  should  not  take  notice  of  the 
remarks  of  ignorant  and  unreasonable  men,  but 
form  their  opinions  of  suffrage  from  a  fair  exam 
ination  of  the  whole  subject  in  all  its  relations. 

We  are  constantly  reminded  that  taxation 
without  representation  is  tyranny :  therefore 
women  should  vote!  This  is  a  good  general 
principle,  but  there  are  exceptions  to  all  rules. 
The  women  are  all  represented,  except  widows 
and  the  unmarried.  So  long  as  a  woman  elects 
her  own  husband  (and  they  can  sometimes  take 
their  choice  of  several  candidates),  it  is  their 
own  fault  if  they  are  not  properly  represented. 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  171 

It  will  be  time  enough  to  consider  the  exceptions 
when  a  majority  of  the  unmarried  women  and 
widows  express  a  desire  for  suffrage.  There 
could  be  no  general  good  result  to  themselves  or 
others  from  a  participation  in  State  elections ; 
but,  in  regard  to  some  local  matters,  it  some 
times  seems  desirable  that  an  unmarried  woman 
should  vote.  In  school  districts,  where  a  widow 
has  children,  she  ought  to  have  a  voice,  as  well 
as  other  families  ;  and  we  believe  that  the  law  of 
some  States  allows  this.  Except  in  some  local 
matters  of  this  kind,  the  bestowal  of  suffrage 
upon  unmarried  women  would  be  for  the  sake 
of  satisfying  the  name  of  justice,  rather  than 
granting  them  any  substantial  advantage.  It  is 
a  very  sharp  joke  (!),  we  admit,  to  say  that  men, 
instead  of  representing  women,  have  always  mis 
represented  them.  The  only  fallacy  in  the  state 
ment  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is  not  true.  The 
majority  of  women  sustain  us  in  this  assertion. 

In  reply  to  some  arguments  against  female 
suffrage,  tlie  Innovators  say,  "  The  same  argu 
ment  was  urged  in  favor  of  slavery."  They 
consider  this  conclusive,  and  think  it  necessary 
to  say  no  more  to  refute  any  argument.  Their 
reasoning  is  something  like  this  :  A.  asserts  that 

O  O 

the  Bible  authorizes  and  commends  stealing: 
B.  declares  that  the  Bible  teaches  us  to  love  our 


172  ECCE  FEMINA. 

neighbors  as  ourselves.  The  assertion  of  A.  is 
incorrect  and  false :  therefore  B.'s  assertion  is 
also  false.  Any  one  who  has  never  seen  a 
work  on  logic  could  detect  the  fallacy  in  this 
reasoning,  yet  this  is  a  fair  specimen  of  that 
which  is  constantly  used  by  these  would-be 
reformers.  From  the  number  of  weak  argu 
ments  used,  we  should  think  it  not  unfair  to 
infer  that  the  Innovators  have  not  a  large  stock 
of  good  ones,  although  they  seem  to  have  an 
extensive  supply  of  assertions. 

In  reply  to  the  argument  that  women  have 
already  as  much  power  as  men,  without  suffrage, 
"  The  Independent  "  says,  "  Then  why  have  the 
laws  relating  to  women  been  confessedly  un 
just?  and,  if  they  have  influence,  they  should 
be  held  responsible  for  it.  Margaret  Fuller 
well  said,  4  There  should  always  be  open  re 
sponsibility  where  there  must  at  any  rate  be 
concealed  power.'  Under  the  concealed  influ 
ence  of  royal  mistresses,  France  was  misruled ; 
under  the  open  control  of  Elizabeth  and  Maria 
Theresa,  England  and  Austria  became  great." 
Wendell  Phillips,  in  1851,  presented  to  the 
Worcester  convention  a  series  of  resolutions  of 
which  we  give  one  :  "  Resolved,  That,  so  far  from 
denying  the  overwhelming  social  and  civil  in 
fluence  of  women,  we  are  fully  aware  of  its 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  173 

vast  extent ;  aware,  with  Demosthenes,  that 
4  measures  which  the  statesman  has  meditated  a 
whole  year  may  be  overturned  in  a  day  by  a 
woman  ; '  and  for  this  very  reason  we  proclaim 
it  the  very  highest  expediency  to  endow  her 
with  full  civil  rights,  since  only  then  will  she 
exercise  this  mighty  influence  under  a  just  sense 
of  her  duty  and  responsibility ;  the  history  of 
all  ages  bearing  witness  that  the  only  safe  course 
for  nations  is  to  add  open  responsibility  wher 
ever  there  already  exists  unobserved  power." 

What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this  ?  Do  they 
really  claim  that  the  women  of  our  country  have 
exercised  their  social  influence  in  such  a  way 
that  u  the  only  safe  couyse  "  for  our  nation  is  to 
bring  them  into  public  life,  where  they  can  be 
governed?  Is  there  any  reason  to  think  that 
their  private  influence  would  be  exercised  more 
wisely  than  it  is  now  ?  Would  not  the  intrigues 
of  u  mistresses  "  be  more  numerous  than  they 
now  are  ?  Do  men  cease  to  plot  secretly  when 
they  get  into  places  of  responsibility  ?  Per 
haps  they  are  more  careful  to  conceal  their 
schemes,  and  on  that  account  they  are  the 
more  dangerous.  Woman's  influence  is  exerted 
socially,  but  not  in  a  secret  or  concealed  way 
generally.  Public  opinion  is  the  principal 
check  upon  the  power  of  office-holders,  and 


174  ECOE  FEMINA. 

women  are  as  much  accountable  to  that  tribunal 
as  men.  If  women  voted,  they  would  give 
their  husbands  as  many  curtain  lectures  as  they 
do  now.  No  power  can  ever  deprive  them  of 
this  right  or  duty  ;  and,  as  long  as  the  majority 
of  men  do  not  complain,  there  is  no  need  of  in 
terference  on  the  part  of  government.  It  is 
here  acknowledged  tiiat  woman's  social  power  is 
"  overwhelming;  "  which  is  a  plain  contradiction 
of  Mill  and  some  others,  who  claim  that  the 
power  is  all  in  the  hands  of  men. 

Mill  informs  us  that  "  every  step  in  improve 
ment  has  been  so  invariably  accompanied  by  a 
step  made  in  raising  the  social  position  of  women, 
that  historians  and  philosophers  have  been  led 
to  adopt  their  elevation  or  debasement,  as,  on 
the  whole,  the  surest  test  and  most  correct 
measure  of  the  civilization  of  a  people  or  an 
age."  This  is  true,  and  is  often  urged  as  an 
argument  in  favor  of  female  suffrage  ;  but  it  cer 
tainly  is  not,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  suffrage 
would  elevate  rather  than  debase  the  sex.  The 
facts  to  which  we  have  already  alluded  make  it 
appear  more  probable  that  suffrage  would  pro 
duce  a  mental  and  moral  debasement  of  women, 
rather  than  any  thing  else ;  hence,  this  becomes 
an  argument  against  female  suffrage. 

We  have  already  said,  that  we  have  no  doubt 


POPULAR  SUFFRAGE.  175 

that  it  would  be  possible,  by  training,  to  make 
the  sexes  more  alike  than  they  are  now  ;  but  we 
cannot  see  any  reason  for  thinking  such  a 
change  desirable,  while  there  are  several  reasons 
against  it.  In  the  first  place,  men  and  women 
have  been  found  more  alike  in  barbarous  and 
half-civilized  tribes  than  anywhere  else.  Among 
enlightened  nations,  the  distinctive  characteris 
tics  of  the  sexes  have  not  been  disregarded.  It 
is  no  argument  against  distinction  of  sex,  that 
some  nations  have  forced  them  farther  apart 
than  they  ought  to  be.  When  we  find  that  they 
have  been  freest  from  restraint,  and  most  highly 
educated,  then  we  find  them  to  a  great  degree 
unlike.  Of  course,  there  are  limits  ;  but  any 
thing  which  tends  to  make  the  sexes  to  any 
considerable  extent  more  alike  than  they  are 
now  will  promote  discord.  We  assert  this  on 
the  strength  of  the  well-known  principle  which 
is  embodied  in  the  proverb  that  two  persons 
who  are  alike  can  never  agree.  We  often  see 
two  persons  widely  differing  in  their  character 
istics,  who  are  life-long  friends.  We  do  not 
believe  that  strong  and  lasting  love  or  friendship 
is  possible,  unless  each  possesses  some  excellence 
that  the  other  does  not.  Of  course  the  minds 
of  men  and  women  should  not  be  so  unlike  that 
there  could  be  no  point  .of  contact.  We  can- 


176  ECGE  FEMINA. 

not  help  thinking  that  this  reciprocal  superiority 
of  the  sexes  is  a  beneficent  arrangement  of  the 
Creator  ;  and  without  it  this  world  would  become 
a  great  scene  of  discord  and  contention.  We 
sometimes  see  a  ludicrous  kind  of  harmony, 
where  the  man  becomes  a  woman,  and  the  woman 
a  man.  If  an  effeminate  man  wishes  a  happy 
life,  he  must  secure  a  masculine  woman  for  a 
wife. 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.         177 


CHAPTER     VI. 

THE    TEACHINGS    OF     THE     BIBLE. 

[S  infidelity  lias  become  unpopular  in 
name,  the  ingenuity  of  man  has 
contrived  to  conceal  its  principles 
under  popular  names.  It  is  so  com 
pletely  disguised,  and  mixed  with  the  ideas  of 
the  age,  that  when  it  comes  to  Christians  under 
the  name  of  progress,  many  of  them  are  led  to 
imbibe  its  principles.  This  most  dangerous  form 
of  infidelity  does  not  openly  assail  the  Bible 
and  Christianity,  but  has  a  very  shrewd  method 
of  letting  them  alone,  and  leading  their  devotees 
to  adopt  principles  which  are  opposed  to  the 
spirit  of  Bible  truth.  Some  of  them  have  been 
well  described  as  "  having  a  form  of  godliness, 
but  denying  the  power  thereof."  But  Chris 
tians  seem  to  have  forgotten  that  they  are  com 
manded  to  turn  away  from  such.  The  most 
deceitful  method  of  evading  the  teachings*  of 
the  Bible  is  to  claim  that  the  Old  Testament 
has  been  superseded ;  when  everybody  ought 
12 


178  ECCE  FEMINA. 

to  know  that  only  the  ceremonial  law  has  passed 
away ;  that  the  main  portion  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment  has  as  much  force  now  as  ever.  Nor  is 
there  any  conflict  between  the  two  divisions  of 
the  Bible. 

We  cannot  avoid  thinking  that  the  clergymen 
of  the  present  day  are,  to  a  great  extent,  respon 
sible  for  the  ignorance  which  prevails  in  regard 
to  the  Bible,  and  the  state  of  public  opinion 
which  makes  it  so  easy  for  concealed  infidelity 
to  insinuate  itself  into  the  minds  of  Christians. 
It  does  no  good  to  denounce  these  evils,  so  long 
as  the  proper  method  of  hindering  them  is  dis 
carded.  It  has  become  rather  unpopular  to 
preach  doctrine;  and  some  ministers  have  formed 
a  sort  of  compromise  between  Christ  and  the 
world,  and  try  to  preach  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  will  offend  neither.  The  result  is  a  series 
of  religious  essays,  which  are  good  in  them 
selves,  but  have  no  point  to  them,  or,  if  there  is 
any,  it  is  so  rounded  that  nobody  feels  it.  If 
a  young  man  who  has  attended  church  faith 
fully  all  his  life  goes  out  into  the  world,  and 
comes  in  contact  with  a  man  who  calls  himself 
a  liberal,  instead  of  an  infidel,  he  is  easily  led 
astray,  because  he  has  never  had  the  truths  or 
doctrines  of  the  Bible  explained  to  him ;  while 
the  "  liberal  "  is  well  informed  on  the  whole  sub- 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.        179 

ject.  Ministers  of  the  gospel  should  be  the 
teachers  and  instructors  of  the  people,  so  that 
any  of  their  hearers  would  be  able  to  defend 
the  truth.  It  is  true  that  they  cannot  be  such 
if  they  burden  themselves  by  writing  two 
sermons  each  week.  If  they  would  spend 
their  time  in  preparing  the  matter  of  their 
sermons,  they  would  soon  be  able  to  express 
themselves  in  such  a  manner  that  their  hearers 
would  understand  them.  Is  it  not  better  to 
have  two  good  ideas  expressed  in  a  respectable 
way  than  to  have  one  written  out  faultlessly  ? 
If  a  young  man  who  has  always  listened  to 
Orthodox  preaching  goes  abroad  and  becomes  a 
Unitarian,  his  old  pastor  feels  hurt  and  troubled. 
Perhaps  he  may  have  declaimed  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  a  thousand  times,  but  had  never 
presented  the  arguments  on  both  sides  to  his 
hearers,  so  that  any  one  would  be  able  to  defend 
the  truth  which  he  believes.  We  think  that  a 
great  part  of  the  heresy  which  some  ministers 
declaim  against  can  be  accounted  for  from  these 
two  causes :  superficiality  necessarily  produced 
by  writing  sermons,  and  the  fear  of  preaching 
doctrine.  If  a  minister  does  justice  to  the 
matter  of  his  sermons,  and  still  writes  them  out, 
he  is  obliged  to  work  so  hard  that  his  health 
breaks  down  in  a  few  years. .  There  are  many 


180  ECCE  FEM1NA. 

such,  although  we  fear  that  the  former  class  is 
the  larger.  These  thoughts  were  suggested  by 
the  loose  ideas  of  the  Bible  which  are  so  preva 
lent.  These  remarks  are  intended  for  those  who 
need  them  ;  and  others,  who  do  not,  will,  we 
trust,  reiterate  them. 

If  any  of  our  readers  do  not  believe  that 
the  Bible  is  from  God,  we  have  nothing  to  say 
to  them  here.  If  we  should  ever  write  any 
thing  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  we 
would  notice  their  arguments.  To  those  who 
profess  to  believe  the  Bible,  we  would  say,  that 
they  cannot  consistently  discard  any  of  its 
truths.  They  must  accept  them  as  they  are. 
Explanations  are  admissible  ;  but  they  must  be 
reasonable,  and  have  some  foundation.  An 
objectionable  passage  cannot  be  thrown  aside 
by  simply  saying,  "  It  may  mean  this,  or 
perhaps  it  had  that  signification."  When  the 
Bible  is  quoted  in  regard  to  woman's  position, 
there  is  usually  no  attempt  made  to  answer  ; 
but  it  is  thought  enough  to  say  that  the  Bible 
was  quoted  to  sustain  slavery.  Now,  this  is 
merely  an  evasion.  The  Bible  does  or  does 
not  sustain  slavery.  It  does  teach  that  one 
sex  should  occupy  one  position,  and  the  other 
another  position,  or  it  does  not  teach  this. 
Each  question  mijst  stand  or  fall  on  its  own 


THE   TEACHINGS   OF   THE  BIBLE.        181 

merits.  The  reference  to  slavery  is  only  a 
cheap  device  to  evade  the  question.  If  any 
man  or  woman  does  not  believe  the  Bible,  the 
world  should  know  it.  No  one  ought  to  hold  an 
opinion  that  he  is  ashamed  to  proclaim  to  the 
world. 

We  shall  endeavor  to  show  that  the  Bible 
teaches  the  unity  and  inviolability  of  the  family, 
and  a  distinction  of  sex  as  wide  as  that  which 
exists  in  the  United  States  ;  while  both  man 
and  woman  are  bound  to  obey  the  same  law, 
and  the  rights  of  one  are  regarded  of  as  much 
importance  as  those  of  the  other.  The  unity 
of  the  family  is  taught  in  Gen.  ii.  23,  2-1, 
and  in  some  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
while  this  passage  is  quoted  and  commented 
upon  in  several  places  in  the  New  Testament. 
The  punishment  for  adultery  is  death;  and 
there  are  other  facts  which  tend  to  show  that 
those  who  do  any  thing  to  degrade  the  family 
relation  must  meet  the  vengeance  of  the  Great 
Lawgiver.  The  Innovators  are  not  fighting 
against  man  merely,  but  against  God;  and  they 
must  take  the  consequences.  Adultery  was 
the  only  ground  for  a  divorce.  The  divorce 
laws  of  some  States  make  marriage  little  if 
any  better  than  concubinage  ;  and,  if  the  Inno 
vators  could  have  their  way,  it  would  not  be 


182  ECCE  FEMINA. 

long  before  marriage  would  be  little  better  in 
one  respect  than  it  is  in  Utah,  where  anybody, 
for  any  reason  or  without  reason,  can  get  a 
divorce  for  the  moderate  sum  of  ten  dollars  ! 
The  law  of  God  is  as  binding  to-day  as  it  was 
when  given  to  Moses.  These  crimes  bring 
with  them  their  own  punishment ;  and,  if  we 
wish  to  escape  from  numerous  evils,  we  must  go 
back  to  the  divine  law. 

Throughout  the  Bible,  the  husband  is  re 
garded  as  the  head  and  protector  of  the  family, 
and  there  is  no  provision  for  separate  interests. 
If  the  following  passage  occurred  in  any  modern 
statute,  the  Innovators  would  denounce  it  as  a 
barbarism :  "  If  men  strive,  or  hurt  a  woman 
with  child,  so  that  her  fruit  depart  from  her, 
and  yet  no  mischief  follow,  he  shall  surely  be 
punished,  according  as  the  woman's  husband 
will  lay  upon  him  ;  and  he  shall  pay  as  the 
judges  determine"  (Ex.  xxi.  22).  If  we  regard 
the  husband  and  wife  as  two,  as  some  modern 
Jaws  do,  it  would  look  as  though  the  husband 
was  to  make  money  out  of  the  wife's  mis 
fortune  ;  but  the  husband  and  wife  are  one  : 
hence,  any  money  paid  to  one  was  paid  to  both. 
There  was  but  one  fund.  Then,  why  not  let 
the  wife  take  the  offender  before  the  judges, 
and  claim  damages  ?  Simply  because  it  is  a 


THE   TEACHINGS   OF   THE  BIBLE.         183 

husband's  duty  to  protect  the  members  of  his 
family,  and  take  any  offender  before  the  magis 
trates. 

The  family  government  is  older  than  any 
other.  The  patriarchal  grew  out  of  this,  as 
men  then  lived  to  such  an  age  that  their  pos 
terity  would  sometimes  form  a  large  tribe. 
This  is  the  only  form  of  government  of  which 
we  have  much  knowledge,  until  the  Israelites 
came  out  of  Egypt.  We  are  not  speaking  of 
the  surrounding  nations,  which  were  governed 
by  absolute  monarchs.  We  wish  to  examine 
the  form  of  government  as  God  established  it. 
We  find  that  matters  of  importance  were  laid 
first  before  the  elders,  and  by  them  referred  to 
the  people.  The  elders  were  all  men.  We 
do  not  find  women  among  the  rulers  or  magis 
trates,  in  any  position,  although  there  were 
some  places  which  they  might  have  filled  as 
well  as  they  can  now.  It  does  not  avail 
any  thing  to  say  that  it  was  a  rude  age,  as  men 
and  women  were  both  rude ;  and  any  adapta 
tion  of  government  to  their  condition  must 
apply  to  one  sex  the  same  as  to  the  other.  In 
Num.  ii.  2,  4,  the  number  of  elders  is 
mentioned  as  seventy.  In  Num.  xxvi.  we 
find  an  enumeration  of  the  several  clans,  or 
general  families,  into  which  the  tribes  were 


184  ECCE  FEMINA. 

subdivided.  There  would  be  about  one  elder 
to  each  of  these  families,  if  we  suppose  that 
there  was  one  extra  chosen  from  each  tribe. 
It  is  not  certain  how  the  elders  were  elected, 
but,  so  far  as  there  is  any  evidence,  it  seems 
more  probable  that  they  were  chosen  by  the 
heads  of  the  several  families.  We  find  that 
the  family  is  always  taken  as  a  basis.  There 
is  no  evidence  to  show  that  women  took  any 
part  in  government,  while  there  are  many 
indications  that  every  thing  of  the  nature  was 
in  the  hands  of  men.  A  young  man  did  not 
probably  reach  majority  at  any  fixed  age,  but  at 
marriage,  which  may  have  taken  place,  on  the 
average,  when  the  man  was  much  older  than 
he  generally  is  now. 

The  priesthood  was  composed  entirely  of  men, 
and  the  judges  and  prophets  were  men,  with  a 
very  few  exceptions.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
exceptions  prove  the  rule.  The  position  of 
prophetess  seems  to  be  more  congenial  to  a 
woman's  nature  than  those  positions  from  which 
she  was  excluded  ;  and  the  fact  that  God  hon 
ored  some  women  by  speaking  through  them 
is  enough  to  show  that  they  were  not,  in  some 
respects,  made  subordinate  to  men,  because  they 
were,  on  the  whole,  inferior  to  men.  Woman's 
position  relative  to  man  was  about 'the  same  as 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.         185 

it  is  now  ;  yet  they  were,  before  the  law,  treated 
as  the  equals  of  men.  Although  there  was  this 
distinction  of  sex,  as  there  is  now,  there  was  no 
regulation  or  custom  lawful  which  had  any  ten 
dency  to  degrade  woman,  or  deprive  her  of  any 
of  her  natural  excellence.  The  management  of 
public  affairs  was  in  the  hands  of  men.  Miriam 
led  the  women  in  singing  and  dancing  ;  but  she 
was  not  satisfied  with  this  pre-eminence.  She 
seemed  to  have  the  modern  idea  of  woman1 8 
rights,  as  she  tried  to  form  a  conspiracy  against 
Moses,  for  which  she  was  smitten  with  leprosy. 
This  was  not  a  very  propitious  beginning  for  the 
cause  which  has  now  become  an  important 
movement.  There  are  many  at  the  present 
time  who  conspire  against  Moses.  They  may 
do  some  harm,  yet  no  one  need  fear  that  they 
will  finally  triumph.  Some  have  become  so 
wise,  that  they  think  God  has  changed  his 
plans  since  the  time  of  Moses.  They  do  not 
believe  him  when  he  says,  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I 
change  not."  Men  change,  but  their  Maker 
does  not.  It  was  regarded  so  unnatural  a  thino1 

&  r*> 

that  a  woman  should  rule,  that  it  is  spoken  of  as 
an  evil  to  be  lamented,  and  an  evidence  of  dis 
organization  (Is.  iii.  12). 

In  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  dis 
tinction  of  sex  is  not  lost  sight  of,  nor  can  it  be 


186  ECCE  FEMINA. 

at  any  time,  without  injustice  to  woman  as  well 
as  man.  When  the  curse  is  pronounced,  there  is 
one  for  woman  and  another  for  man.  The  same 
curse  would  not  have  affected  both  equally.  It 
is  a  very  narrow  interpretation  which  makes 
the  language  of  the  curse  upon  man  refer  mere 
ly  to  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  his  cultivating 
the  soil.  Thorns  and  thistles  are  fit  emblems 
of  tlie  difficulties  which  man  must  encounter  in 
any  occupation.  The  struggles  and  trials  of 
woman  are  of  a  different  nature.  She  is  obliged 
to  endure  evils  from  which  he  is  free  ;  while 
there  are  others  which  she  avoids,  and  he  en 
counters.  It  is  useless  for  either  sex  to  try  to 
avoid  the  curse.  If  they  escape  one  difficulty, 
they  meet  with  a  worse  ;  hence  it  is  better  to 
take  patiently  what  is  inevitable.  Many  of  the 
evils  which  the  Innovators  complain  of  cannot 
be  avoided,  and  their  complaining  and  fault 
finding  only  tend  to  make  the  morose  more  dis 
contented  and  miserable.  It  is  no  evidence  that 
women  are  worse  treated  than  men,  because  we 
find  that  they  are  subjected  to  some  evils  which 
do  not  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  other  sex.  We 
must  look  at  the  other  side,  and  see  how  many 
conflicts  men  pass  through  which  women  escape. 
When  man  is  delivered  from  the  curse  of  a 
broken  law,  woman  will  be  also,  and  not  before. 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.         187 

The  visionary  may  picture  to  themselves  the 
peace  and  happiness  which  they  expect  to  pre 
vail  when  woman  votes  and  occupies  all  the 
lucrative  positions  which  men  do  ;  but,  if  they 
could  see  such  a  time,  they  would  be  sadly  dis 
appointed.  Perhaps  woman's  condition  can  be 
made  better  than  it  is  now  (we  trust  and  hope 
that  it  will)  ;  but  it  cannot  be  improved  as  much 
as  some  expect,  until  the  millennium  comes. 

Jn  the  New  Testament  we  find  evidences  of 
the  regard  and  esteem  which  Christ  and  the 
apostles  had  for  woman  ;  yet  there  is  the  same 
distinction  of  sex.  Only  men  are  commissioned 
to  preach  ;  and,  through  the  whole,  it  is  evident 
that  the  sphere  of  woman  was  regarded  as  about 
the  same  as  it  is  now  by  all  except  the  Inno 
vators.  Christ  came  to  break  every  yoke  ;  and, 
if  he  had  found  woman  abused  as  much  as  some 
say  she  is,  he  would  have  set  the  example  by 
choosing  them  to  preach,  or  in  some  way  \vould 
have  condemned  the  existing  customs.  It  is  a 

O 

cheap  and  blasphemous  evasion  to  say  that  he 
yielded  to  and  thereby  encouraged  the  preju 
dices  of  the  times.  He  did  not  hesitate  to 
trample  on  their  prejudices  in  other  matters. 
He  called  them  hypocrites,  and  denounced  them 
as  a  generation  of  vipers.  He  drove  the  money 
changers  out  of  the  temple,  and  never  hesitated  to 


188  ECCE   FEMINA. 

condemn^any  of  their  time- honored  customs  when 
he  found  them  wrong.       He  chose  the  apostles 
from  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  and  the   despised  ; 
and,  if  he  had  ever  intended  that  women  should 
preach,  he  would  have  chosen  them  also.     If 
there  is  any  reason  why  a  woman  should  preach 
now,   there   was    then.       They  certainly    have 
no    authority   for    entering     the    pulpit.      We 
need  not  a  word  from  the  epistles  of  Paul  or 
Peter  to  decide  whether  women  should  become 
preachers.       But,  when   we    have    their   words 
against  such    a    course,   we    do    not    see    how 
any  woman  dare  enter  the  pulpit  as  the  servant 
of    her    Saviour.       We    sometimes    admire    a 
person  who  defies  public  opinion  ;  but  there  is 
such    an    enormous  inconsistency  in  professing 
to  serve  God,  and  at  the  same  time  defying  his 
Word,   that  the   very   thought  ought  to  make 
one    shudder.       We   can    throw  the   cloak    of 
charity  over  any  thing  else  which  the  Innovators 
advocate,  except  encouraging  women  to  preach 
the    gospel.     Infidelity  may   be  consistent,  but 
this   cannot   be.      We   do  not  care  how  honest 
those  women  are  who   preach ;    they   must  be 
held  accountable  for  what  they  can  know  :  the 
Bible  is  plain  enough,  unless  they  refuse  to  see 
the  truth.       If  people    profess    to    follow  their 
own  ideas  of  woman's  sphere,  that  is  one  thing : 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.        189 

if  they  profess  to  follow  the  Bible,  that  is 
another. 

The  passages  which  place  a  veto  on  woman's 
preaching  are  1  Cor.  xiv.  84,  35,  and  1  Tim. 
ii.  11-15.  Some  have  endeavored  to  evade 
these  passages  by  saying  that  they  had  a  special 
meaning  at  the  time  they  were  written ;  but 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  proof  that  such  was  the 
case.  They  might  as  well  claim  that  the  com 
mand  to  husbands  to  love  their  wives  was  a 
temporary  command.  The  historical  references 
plainly  show  that  he  states  a  general  principle, 
and  one  applicable  in  all  ages.  He  refers  to  the 
law,  and  the  creation  and  fall  of  the  race.  We 
saw  a  newspaper  article  not  long  since,  which 
disposed  of  these  passages  with  an  ease  that  was 
really  laughable,  by  saying  that  the  whole 
world  disregarded  the  command  that  woman 

8 

should  not  teach!  By  taking  two  or  three 
words  without  their  connection,  we  can  make 
the  Bible  teach  almost  any  doctrine.  No  candid 
man  will  claim,  on  reading  these  passages,  that 
women  are  commanded  not  to  teach,  in  the 
sense  that  they  were  not  to  instruct  their  chil 
dren,  or  perform  the  duties  of  an  instructor  for 
others.  If  that  was  the  meaning,  a  mother  would, 
even  at  that  time,  be  doing  wrong  if  she  taught 
the  Lord's  Prayer  to  her  children.  We  find 


190  ECCE  FEMINA. 

this  word,  d/.da0xo>,  used  when  Christ  taught  his 
disciples  the  truths  of  Christianity.  We  find 
the  same  Greek  word  used  in  many  instances 
where  reference  is  made,  not  to  an  exhortation 
which  a  believer  might  give  to  others,  but 
where  the  apostles,  or  any  one  occupying  the 
position  that  an  ordained  minister  HOAV  does,  ad 
dressed  the  people,  or  preached  to  them.  The 
pastors  were  the  teachers  of  their  flocks.  It 
seems  most  probable,  then,  that  the  reference  in 
these  passages  is  not  to  what  might  be  said  in  a 
prayer-meeting,  but  to  speaking  with  authority, 
or  teaching  the  people  as  a  pastor  is  supposed 
to  do.  Women  were  to  keep  silence  in  the 
churches,  not  everywhere.  We  do  not  believe 
that  a  fair  construction  would  convey  the  idea 
that  a  woman  must  keep  silence  in  a  social 
prayer-meeting ;  but  the  passages  cannot  be 
fairly  interpreted  to  mean  less  than  that  women 
should  not  occupy  the  position  of  a  public  teacher 
or  preacher  of  the  gospel. 

If  the  instructions  in  the  New  Testament  to 
husbands  and  wives  were  followed,  there  would 
be  no  occasion  for  family  trouble.  If  any  person 
reads  ihe  passages  in  regard  to  husbands  and 
wives,  with  a  mind  overflowing  with  notions  of 
individual  rights,  they  seem  strange  and  un 
accountable.  If  he  reads  them  with  the  mind 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.        191 

thoroughly  impressed  with  the  idea  that  hus 
band  and  wife  are  one,  their  interests  one,  and 
remember  that  they  ought  to  forget  that,  -they 
have  individual  rights,  and  do  all  in  their  power 
for  each  other's  happiness,  then  there  is  nothing 
harsh  or  strange  in  any  of  these  passages.  "  Let 
the  husband  render  unto  the  wife  due  benevo 
lence,  and  likewise  also  the  wife  unto  the  hus 
band.  The  wife  hath  not  power  of  her  own 
body,  but  the  husband  "  (1  Cor.  vii.  3,  4).  This 
does  not  sound  much  like  the  doctrine  of  rights 
which  is  proclaimed  by  the  Innovators.  They 
would  probably  ridicule  and  scout  such  doctrine 
if  found  elsewhere.  But  let  us  see  the  rest  of 
the  passage:  "And  likewise  also  the  husband 
hath  not  power  of  his  own  body,  but  the  wife." 
He  loses  his  individuality  at  marriage,  as  well 
as  the  wife.  Any  husband,  who,  in  business 
or  in  any  thing  else,  acts  simply  for  his  own 
interests,  without  regard  to  wife  or  children,  is 
false  to  the  marriage  -relation.  Any  action  on 
the  part  of  husband  or  wife,  simply  for  self,  is 
contrary  to  the  spirit  and  teachings  of  Chris 
tianity,  and  subversive  of  peace  and  harmony. 
There  are  some  women  delivering  lectures 
through  the  country,  with  the  object  of  impress 
ing  upon  the  minds  of  women  the  duty  of  attend 
ing  to  their  own  wants  and  wishes  first,  and 


192  ECCE  FEMINA. 

then,  if  they  see  fit  to  be  so  benevolent,  they 
can  do  something  for  their  husbands.  Whether 
we  should  obey  God  or  such  women,  judge  ye, 
who  profess  to  be  Christians.  These  women 
may  justly  condemn  any  man  who  does  not 
place  his  wife  before  himself.  The  world  should 
make  it  unpopular  and  despicable  for  .a  husband 
to  place  his  own  comfort  or  his  own  welfare 
before  his  wife's  ;  and  should  not  the  same  spirit 
on  the  part  of  the  wife  be  condemned  also  ? 

For  further  instruction  to  husbands  and  wives, 
we  refer  the  reader  to  1  Cor.  xi.  11,  12 ;  Eph. 
v.  22-33;  and  1  Pet.  iii.  1-7.  If  we  disre 
gard  the  natural  difference  between  the  sexes, 
and  place  individual  rights  above  the  family 
relation,  these  passages  are  inexplicable ;  but  if 
we  do  not,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  them.  They 
do  not  contain  a  minute  analysis  of  all  the  duties 
of  husbands  and  wives,  but  they  warn  them 
against  those  evils  and  errors  into  which  they 
would  be  most  likely  to  fall.  The  present  move 
ment,  against  which  we  are  contending,  is  a 
proof  that  these  warnings  were  not  superfluous. 
The  husband  is  commanded  to  love  and  cherish 
the  wife  as  Christ  does  the  church,  which  would 
involve  the  idea  that  he  must  sacrifice  his  life 
for  her  if  necessary.  He  is  reminded  that  any 
wrong  done  to  the  wife  would  be  as  unnatural 


THE   TEACHINGS  OF  THE  BIBLE.        193 

as  it  would  be  to  injure  himself,  for  they  are  one. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  superiority  of 
strength  belongs  to  the  husband;  and  this  was 
given  him  not  merely  for  his  own  good,  but 
that  he  might  the  better  serve  and  protect  his 
wife.  The  honor  which  the  husband  owes  to 
the  wife  is  not  that  which  belongs  to  an  inferior. 
The  last  verse  referred  to  is  not  so  translated  as 
to  convey  the  meaning  of  the  original.  We 
will  not  give  an  exact  translation,  but  the  mean 
ing  seems  to  be  something  like  this  :  "  Likewise, 
ye  husbands,  live  with  your  wives  as  wisdom 
teaches ;  while  they  are  inferior  to  you  in 
strength,  give  them  honor,  since  they  are  your 
equals  as  heirs  of  the  grace  of  life."  As 
immortal  beings  they  are  worthy  of  honor  :  their 
souls  are  of  as  much  value  as  man's.  The 
homage  which  men  pay  to  women  at  the  present 
time  ought  to  satisfy  them.  They  are  respected 
and  honored  more  than  men  are  by  each  other. 
If  women  are  slaves,  they  occupy  a  more 
queenly  position  than  slaves  ever  held  before. 

The  wife  is  warned  not  to  take  the  husband's 
place,  although  he  "  obey  not  the  word."  She 
is  reminded  that  she  can  gain  or  win  her  hus 
band  by  her  deportment.  Her  power  lies  in  this 
direction  ;  and,  if  she  wishes  to  succeed,  she  must 
use  it.  Through  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
is 


194  ECGE  FEMINA. 

ment  the  distinction  af  sex  is  kept  up,  yet  the 
highest  and  purest  regard  for  woman  is  incul 
cated.  This  cannot  be  explained  unless  we 
grant  that  this  distinction  of  sex  is  natural.  The 
only  just  and  equal  arrangement  is  that  which 
is  adapted  to  woman's  natural  capacity  and 
tendency.  We  car^know  what  this  is,  not  from 
extremes,  but  from  the  inclination  and  desires  of 
the  majority.  It  is  presumption  for  men  or 
women  to  pretend  to  know  better  what  is  for 
their  good  than  their  Maker. 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  195 


CHAPTER  VII. 
WOMAN'S    SPHERE. 

HERE  is  more  trutli  in  the  remark 
that  Nature  will  take  care  of  herself 
than  those  who  use  the  expression 
sometimes  imagine.  The  reason 
that  the  Innovators  do  not  make  some  of  their 
schemes  work  is  because  she  does  take  care  of 
herself.  Prejudice  often  gets  the  credit  of 
doing  some  things,  and  hindering  the  perform 
ance  of  others,  when  Nature  is  really  the 
stubborn  conservative  that  directs  these 
affairs.  There  are  special  reasons  why  the 
minority  of  women  cannot  follow  their  own 
inclinations,  if  they  wish  to  enter  the  pulpit  or 
engage  in  politics,  as  we  have  already  seen. 
But,  aside  from  these,  the  minority  of  women 
who  wish  to  engage  in  masculine  employments 
can  be  allowed  to  fight  their  way  wherever  they 
are  able,  without  the  necessity  of  hinderance  from 
the  public.  We  have  our  opinion  that  they 
cannot  succeed  in  certain  positions  ;  yet,  if  they 


196  ECCE  FEMINA. 

can  prove  to  the  world  that  we  are  mistaken, 
there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be 
allowed  to  try.  The  great  difficulty  which  the 
Innovators  will  be  obliged  to  contend  with  is 
not  in  the  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  by 
public  opinion,  but  that  they  cannot  find  the 
necessary  number  of  women  to  make  the  experi 
ments.  Nature  is  stronger  than  exaggerated 
statements  or  discontented  spirits,  male  or 
female,  who  wish  to  tear  society  in  pieces  and 
build  anew.  Let  us  examine  the  nature  of 
the  circumstances,  and  see  if  prejudice  is  the 
only  foe  to  the  measures  which  we  have 
recently  been  told  should  be  adopted. 

Under  the  most  favorable  circumstances 
which  could  be  expected,  so  long  as  the  family 
relation  exists,  only  a  very  few  women  can 
ever  be  persuaded  to  practise  law  or  medicine, 
or  engage  in  any  occupations  for  life,  except 
those  in  which  they  are  already  engaged. 
This  is  simply  because  the  great  majority  of 
women  sooner  or  later  become  wives.  It  does 
no  good,  or  comparatively  little  good,  to  theorize, 
and  show  that  learning  a  trade  does  not 
hinder  a  woman's  becoming  a  good  wife.  The 
number  who  will  take  the  advice  will  always  be 
in  proportion  to  the  chance  of  being  obliged  to 
resort  to  self-support.  Perhaps  the  agitation 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  197 

of  the  subject  may  make  some  difference,  but 
the  majority  of  those  who  accept  theories  will 
practise  as  before.  Insurance  against  fire  costs 
much  less  in  the  country  than  in  a  city,  and  is 
theoretically  as  necessary  and  expedient  in  pro 
portion  to  the  expense  ;  yet  it  is  not  an  uncom 
mon  thing  for  buildings  to  be  uninsured,  although 
but  a  trifle  is  saved  ;  simply  because  fires  are 
rare,  and  men  feel  that  there  is  but  little 
danger.  In  a  city,  where  the  danger  is  great, 
a  man  would  hardly  risk  a  building  over  night 
without  insurance.  If  twice  as  many  women 
were  likely  to  remain  single  as  now,  there 
would  be  twice  as  many  seeking  employment 
for  life.  The  great  majority  of  men  and 
women  make  preparation  merely  for  proba 
bilities,  while  only  the  few  look  out  for  possibil 
ities.  It  is  true  that  this  ought  not  to  be  so ; 
yet  we  have  no  reason  to  expect  that  human 
nature  can  be  so  changed  that  this  order  will 
be  reversed. 

It  needs  but  little  argument  to  show  that  the 
wife  should  not  generally  do  more  than  attend 
to  the  household  affairs,  while  the  husband 
earns  the  means  of  support.  Only  a  few 
cynical  people  will  claim  that  marriage  is  not 
desirable.  Statistics  show  that  the  married  are, 
on  the  average,  longer  lived  than  the  single  ; 


198  ECCE  FEMINA. 

and  the  social  and  moral  influence  of  home  is 
superior  to  that  which  surrounds  those  who 
have  none.  If  wives  have  time  to  do  more 
than  attend  to  household  affairs,  it  ought  to 
be  devoted  to  their  intellectual  development, 
rather  than  to  a  profession  or  trade.  To 
those  who  have  the  talent,  there  are  several 
intellectual  pursuits  which  are  not  inconsistent 
with  household  cares ;  but  no  considerable 
number  of  married  women  would  ever  become 
lawyers,  physicians,  or  merchants,  even  if  they 
were  as  well  adapted  to  those  pursuits  as  men 
are.  No  one  can  be  hired  to  take  care  of  a  house 
hold  and  attend  to  children  as  faithfully  as  the 
mother  herself.  But  let  us  examine  the  proba 
bilities  of  success,  if  women  try  to  achieve 
eminence  in  the  same  field  that  men  now 
occupy. 

In  regard  to  the  legal  profession,  we  quote 
the  following  from  Mrs.  Ball's  lecture  on 
'^  English  Common  Law:"  "Women  often 
have  occasion  to  smile,  sometimes  sadly,  some 
times,  mischievously,  at  the  verdicts  passed  upon 
their  own  sex.  If  women  were  to  enter  the 
practice  of  the  law,  or  become  law-makers,  an 
immense  change  would  take  place  in  all  that 
relates  to  it.  Absurd  technicalities  would  be 
swept  off  its  papers.  One  hundred  words 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  199 

would  no  longer  do  duty  for  one.  Simple, 
common-sense  forms  of  expression  would  take 
the  place  of  obsolete  Latin  and  Norman 
French.  Daylight  would  be  let  into  indict 
ments,  and  flaws  would  soon  be  hard  to  find. 
No  woman  ever  existed  whose  patience  would 
stand,  in  cases  where  meaning  and  law  are 
evident,  the  absurd  delays  of  chancery  courts, 
or  the  still  absurder  4  filing  of  objections,'  or 
4  defining  of  terms,'  with  which  lawyers  amuse 
a  jury,  and  which  Sir  Leicester  Dedlock,  we  are 
told,  considered  as  the  bulwarks  of  the  English 
constitution.  This  impatience  of  women 
might  not  be  very  valuable,  if  she  were  to 
legislate  alone  ;  but,  controlled  by  man's  con 
servative  caution,  it  would  be  of  the  greatest 
service." 

Mrs.  D.  had  been  reading  law,  it  seems,  to 
prepare  her  lecture  ;  and  the  above  amounts  to 
nothino-  more  nor  less  than  a  confession  that 

£} 

law  is  not  adapted  to  woman's  nature,  hence  a 
change  is  necessary.  If  the  "  impatience  "  of 
woman  is  to  be  the  valuable  addition  to  law 
and  politics,  the  country  can  get  along  without 
it.  The  speed  which  we  can  obtain  by  the  use 
of  steam  is  good  for  the  railroad,  but  is  hardly 
desirable  in  the  framing  or  execution  of  laws. 
We  think  that  most  women  would  find  the 


200  ECCE  FEMINA. 

study  and  practice  of  law  rather  dry  and 
uncongenial  to  their  nature.  The  surround 
ings  at  the  bar  would  not  be  attractive  to  most 
women.  Is.  there  any  probability  that  they 
would  honor  themselves  or  benefit  the  world 
by  engaging  in  the  legal  profession  ? 

In  the  medical  profession  woman  can   eno-ao-e 

1  O     O 

more  appropriately,  without  unsexing  herself. 
There  are  some  departments  of  the  practice  of 
medicine,  in  which  women  could  engage  very 
appropriately ;  and  there  would  probably  be  a 
demand  for  them.  But  a  woman  can  never 
be  a  successful  surgeon  unless  she  crushes  her 
emotional  nature,  which  is  so  strongly  devel 
oped  that  her  nerves  'spontaneously  sympathize 
with  any  kind  of  suffering.  A  successful  sur 
geon  and  true  woman  will  very  rarely  be  found 
to  coincide  and  form  the  same  person.  This  is 
a  priori  reasoning,  we  admit,  as  we  have  ob 
tained  no  information  in  regard  to  those  women 
who  have  practised  surgery.  We  not  un- 
fretjuently  hear  women  say  that  they  think 
there  ought  to  be  female  physicians ;  yet  we 
rarely  find  one  who  would  on  any  account  become 
one  herself.  The  number  of  female  physicians 
will  probably  be  larger  in  a  few  years  than  it  is 
now  ;  yet,  compared  with  the  number  of  male 
physicians,  it  must  always  remain  small^as  only 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  231 

a  few  women  have  any  inclination  to  engage  in 
the  profession. 

In  the  study  of  law  or  medicine,  it  can  hardly 
be  considered  desirable  that  the  sexes  be 
educated  together.  In  denouncing  institutions 
because  they  will  not  admit  women,  there  is 
an  unreasonable  strono--headedness  which  is 

tt 

worse  than  any  conservatism.  The  supply  of 
institutions  for  educating  women  for  a  profes 
sion  will  be  equal  to  the  demand.  In  the 
study  of  medicine,  most  women  will  prefer  to 
be  educated  by  themselves,  unless  they  have 
an  extra  amount  of  boldness,  which  we  usually 
call  brass.  It  is  unreasonable  to  denounce 
everybody  as  the  enemy  of  woman  who  does 
not  adopt  every  educational  scheme  proposed 
by  the  Innovators.  In  any  labor  or  profession, 
the  indiscriminate  mino-lino;  of  the  sexes  must 

O  O 

be  productive  of  evil  consequences.  It  is  true 
that  women  ought  to  be  as  highly  educated  as 
men  ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  every  college 
should  be  thrown  open  to  them.  There  are 
some  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  educating 
the  sexes  together,  and  there  are  some  very 
strong  ones  against  it.  The  Innovators  would 
command  more  respect  if  they  could  only  see 
that  there  are  two  sides  to  this  question,  instead 
of  denouncing  their  opponents  as  the  servants 
of  an  unreasonable  prejudice. 


202  ECCE  FEMINA. 

If  there   is   an   increasing   number  of  young 
women  who  wish  for  a  college  education,  there 

O 

will  be  institutions  ready  to  receive  them. 
The  great  difficulty  is  this  :  but  few  wish  for  as 
good  an  education  as  men  receive.  They  gen 
erally  prefer  a  shorter  course.  If  we  can  im 
press  upon  the  people  the  importance  of  devel 
oping  the. mind  for  its  own  sake,  there  will  be 
a  point  gained  in  favor  of  female  education. 
The  idea  is  too  prevalent  among  men  that  they 
must  merely  get  as  limited  an  education  as 
possible,  to  enable  them  to  perform  the  duties 
of  an  instrument :  that  is,  to  fill  some  place, 
so  that  they  can  serve  others,  and  thereby  get 
a  living.  Few  men  seek  for  an  education  for 
the  sake  of  expanding  their  minds.  We 
Americans  are  too  much  absorbed  in  the 
material  prosperity  of  our  country.  We  must 
remember  that  the  soul  is  of  infinitely  more 
value  than  any  thing  else.  It  is  true  that  we 
must  take  care  of  our  bodies  ;  but  we  should 
not  stop  here.  Perhaps  women  will  never  be 
persuaded  to  seek  as  high  an  education  as  men 
do  ;  but  any  thing  which  contributes  to  elevate 
mental  culture  for  its  own  sake  will  have  that 
tendency.  Too  many  men  are  narrow-minded 
and  ignorant  outside  of  their  professions. 
They  merely  obtain  what  knowledge  they  need 
to  follow  their  vocation. 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  203 

But  very  few  women  wish  to  become  public 
speakers ;  yet  we  can  safely  allow  Nature  to 
take  care  of  herself.  If  there  are  exceptions 
who  wish  to  try  the  experiment,  they  will  suc 
ceed  if  they  have  the  ability  :  if  they  have  not, 
then  they  must  fail.  At  present,  there  is  in 
some  places  a  mania  for  female  lecturers  ;  and  a 
mediocre  address  by  a  woman  is  worth  more 
than  a  first-rate  production  by  a  man.  There 
is  something  novel  about  it ;  and  people  are,  for 
the  time,  led  to  lay  aside  their  judgment,  and 
over-estimate  the  talents  of  some  favorites. 
But  this  matter  will  take  care  of  itself.  In  a 
few  years,  every  woman  as  well  as  every  man 
who  lectures  will  stand  or  fall  on  her  own 
ability.  We  venture  the  assertion,  that  those 
women  will  be  the  most  popular  in  five  years 
from  this  time  who  have  the  least  to  say  about 
woman's  rights.  People  like  a  good  sharp 
scolding  for  variety,  but  it  becomes  rather  dis 
gusting  if  continued.  Some  women  have  made 
so  many  extravagant  assertions  in  public,  that 
they  will  not  be  listened  to  when  they  tell  the 
plain  truth  a  few  years  hence.  No  one  need 
be  troubled  at  the  present  indications  of  some 
portions  of  the  country.  There  will  be  a  re 
action,  since  the  Innovators  are  doing  too  much 
for  their  own  success.  It  is  an  old  proverb, 


204  EGUE  FEMINA. 

that  whom  the  gods  would  destroy,  they  first 
make  mad. 

As  a  writer,  there  is  an  open  field  for 
woman,  and  she  will  doubtless  play  an  im 
portant  part  in  the  literature  of  the  next 
hundred  years.  The  female  writers  of  our 
country  are  now  numbered  by  hundreds,  and 
some  of  them  are  not  merely  celebrated  in  this 
country,  but  throughout  the  world.  Litera 
ture  is  better  adapted  to  woman's  nature  than 
any  other  field  of  intellectual  labor ;  and  she 
can  obtain  the  same  price  for  her  productions 
that  man  can  for  his.  The  influence  which  is 
exerted  over  the  public  mind  by  woman's  pen 
is  greater  than  all  others  which  she  can  use 
directly.  Public  opinion  is  moulded  indirectly 
by  woman's  social  power,  to  an  extent  which  is 
almost  immeasurable. 

The  number  of  women  who  will  engage  in 
the  high  intellectual  pursuits  to  which  we  have 
already  referred  will  probably  never  exceed  a 
few  hundred,  and  can  never  have  any  material 
effect  on  the  thousands  of  women  who  are  obliged 
to  earn  their  own  living.  Besides,  they  will 
come  mostly  from  those  who  are  not  obliged  to 
earn  their  own  support,  but  do  so  from  choice. 

We  will  now  note  some  of  the  circumstances 
of  those  women  who  are  obliged  to  labor  from 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  205 

year  to  year  for  very  small  wages,  and  see  what 
changes  are  possible  and  what  are  desirable. 
It  does  no  good  to  denounce  the  public  for 
their  prejudices,  and  theorize  about  how  things 
ought  to.be.  Political  economy  treats  the  poor 
girl  in  great  want  just  as  well  as  the  rich  girl 
who  needs  nothing,  but  no  better.  These  laws 
are  impartial,  but  merciless.  Any  thing  that  is 
done  to  make  the  circumstances  of  the  unfortu 
nate  better  must  either  be  done  in  the  way  of 
charity,  or  by  some  general  change  in  the 
labor-market  which  will  benefit  all  engaged  in 
a  certain  way,  whether  needy  or  not. 

This  subject  of  female  labor  is  a  great  ques 
tion  ;  yet  there  is  much  talk  about  it  by  people 
who  have  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  principles 
involved.  There  are  probably  thousands  of  men 
and  women  in  the  United  States  who  believe, 
that  if  prejudice  were  removed,  and  women 
allowed  to  engage  in  the  same  employments 
as  men,  the  price  of  female  labor  would 
soon  be  as  high  as  irian's.  We  should  judge, 
from  the  remarks  of  some  of  the  Innovators,  that 
they  have  not  yet  learned  that  the  price  of  labor 
depends  mainly  upon  supply  and  demand,  al 
though  the  most  of  them  seem  to  have  learned 
this.  But  a  great  majority  of  the  people  do  not 
exactly  seem  to  understand  wliy  a  woman 


206  ECGE  FEM1NA. 

receives  less  pay  for  teaching,  when  she  does  a 
certain  amount  of  work  as  well  as  a  man  does. 
Abstract  justice  seems  to  say  that  she  should 
receive  the  same  pay.  If  the  wheat-crop  is 
large,  and  the  potato-crop  small,  the  former  will 
be  cheap  and  the  latter  dear,  no  matter  what 
the  relative  amount  of  nourishment  each  con 
tains.  If  the  order  of  abundance  is  reversed  the 
next  year,  the  relative  prices  will  be  changed 
accordingly.  Now,  this  same  principle  is  in 
volved  in  the  relative  prices  of  male  and  female 
labor.  If  a  woman  gets  only  one  hundred 
dollars  where  a  man  can  get  two  for  the  same 
labor,  it  is  because  there  are  twice  as  many 
women  competing  in  that  field  as  there  are  men. 
If  one  woman  says  this  is  unjust,  and  refuses  to 
work  unless  she  can  get  as  much  as  man,  another 
steps  in  and  offers  to  do  the  labor  at  the  market- 
price.  They  compete  with  each  other ;  and 
there  is  no  remedy  for  this,  unless  one-half  of 
the  women  can  be  engaged  in  some  other  field 
of  labor,  when  the  half  who  remain  will  get  the 
same  wages  that  men  do  for  the  same  amount 
of  labor  performed  as  well.  Can  the  number 
of  feminine  employments  be  so  increased  that 
woman  will  receive  the  same  compensation  for 
her  services  that  man  does  for  his  ?  We  shall 
endeavor  to  show,  that,  as  society  is  now  con 
stituted,  this  cannot  be,  and  is  not  desirable. 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  207 

We  will  suppose  that  the  prejudice  in  regard 
to  female  employments  is  entirely  removed,  and 
women  encouraged  to  engage  in  any  and  every 
employment.  Still,  there  are  many  kinds  of 
labor  which  women  are  not  adapted  to  perform, 
and  never  will  engage  in  voluntarily.  They 
are  now  employed  in  almost  every  capacity  that 
they  can  fill  or  desire  to  fill.  It  must  be  re 
membered  that  only  a  very  few  women  wish  to 
engage  in  any  occupation  for  life  :  hence  they 
only  occupy  those  positions  which  they  can 
learn  to  fill  in  a  short  time.  If  women  engage 
in  mercantile  business,  they  can  make  the  same 
profits  that  men  do  ;  yet  they  rarely  make  the 
trial,  and  this  must  always  continue,  for  two 
reasons.  In  the  first  place,  those  women  who 
are  obliged  to  earn  their  own  living  rarely  have 
the  capital ;  secondly,  they  prefer  to  work  for 
small  wages  rather  than  make  any  permanent 
arrangement.  We  have  not  here  taken  into 
consideration  whether  they  have  the  natural 
capacity  for  business  that  men  have.  The  most 
lucrative  positions  are  those  which  are  perma 
nent.  Tnose  men  who  work  for  only  a  short 
time  in  a  place  generally  receive  comparatively 
small  compensation.  As  the  majority  of  labor 
ing  women  do  not  seek  permanent  positions, 
custom  places  some  of  those,  which  they  might 


208  ECCE  FEMINA. 

otherwise  occupy,  in  the  hands  of  men ;  and 
when  any  woman  who  is  qualified  obtains  em 
ployment  for  a  term  of  years,  she  must  take  the 
consequences  of  the  condition  of  other  laboring 
women  who  receive  small  wages,  because  they 
are  engaged  in  the  odds  and  ends  of  labor.  She 
may  get  more  than  she  would  in  less  responsible 
situations ;  yet  she  cannot  obtain  as  much  as  a 
man,  on  account  of  the  general  market-price  of 
female  labor. 

If  a  woman  goes  to  some  part  of  the  country 
where  women  are  scarce,  she  can  get  large 
wages.  In  the  rough  mining  regions,  and  more 
remote  sections  of  California,  a  female  teacher 
can  obtain  higher  wages  in  a  small  school  than 
she  can  in  a  more  responsible  position  in  the 
same  State,  where  the  regular  routine  of  civil 
ized  life  is  established.  The  same  is  true  in 
other  parts  of  the  country.  In  those  sections 
where  women  are  superabundant,  the  price  of 
their  labor  is  greatly  reduced  ;  while  it  is  corre 
spondingly  dear  where  there  are  more  men  than 
women.  The  current  of  westward  emigration 
has  taken  more  young  men  from  the  Eastern 
States  than  young  women  :  hence  the  amount 
of  female  labor  in  the  market,  in  some  portions 
of  the  country,  is  more  than  is  needed  ;  and  this 
has  caused  a  reduction  in  the  price  of  their 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  209 

labor,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  has  hindered 
an  advance  to  correspond  with  that  which  has 
been  made  in  male  labor.  It  must  be  remem 
bered  that  this  is  not  a  permanent  evil,  although 
it  may  continue  for  years,  unless  something  can 
be  done  to  provide  for  a  more  equal  distribution 
of  the  sexes  throughout  the  different  parts  of  the 
country.  If  any  thing  is  done  for  the  relief  of 
laboring  women,  it  must  be  done  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  political  economy. 

Now,  what  have  the  Innovators  done  for  the 
practical  relief  of  women  who  are  laboring  on 
starvation  wages  ?  They  have  denounced  the 
public,  and  accused  everybody,  except  them 
selves,  of  injustice  ;  in  short,  they  have  made 
a  great  noise,  excited  discontented  women,  and 
done  all  in  their  power  to  precipitate  them  into 
public  employments,  and  thereby  increased  the 
amount  of  suffering  and  crime,  instead  of  elevat 
ing  the  sex.  They  have  raised  the  cry  of 
"fire !  "  but  have  done  nothing  to  extinguish  the 
flames.  They  have  called  the  attention  of  the 
public  to  a  difficulty,  but  have  only  increased 
the  confusion,  so  that  laboring  women  are 
devouring  each  other.  Since  they  know  noth 
ing  of  the  laws  of  political  economy,  the  course 
which  they  think  for  the  best  is  really  the  most 
ruinous.  These  are  grave  charges  to  make 


210  ECCE  FEMINA. 

against  those  who  profess  to  be  reformers ;  but 
let  us  look  at  the  facts,  and  see  if  we  have  been 
too  severe.  We  do  not  accuse  the  Innovators 
of  intending  to  aggravate  the  evils  against  which 
they  declaim  ;  but  their  intemperate  zeal  and  un 
reasonable  language  have  produced  these  results. 
It  has  been  in  this  way :  they  have  de 
nounced  and  ridiculed  public  opinion  for  con 
sidering  housework  the  principal  occupation  of 
woman  ;  hence  they  have  made  it  more  dis 
reputable  for  a  young  woman  to  become  a  family 
servant.  For  this  reason,  young  women  have 
imbibed  enough  of  the  woman's-rights  move 
ment  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  engage  in 
any  employment  rather  than  housework.  The 
wages  of  servants  have  so  advanced  that  foreign 
girls  have  been  tempted  to  this  country,  and  are 
now  our  cooks  and  housekeepers.  In  some 
places  women  will  work  with  the  needle  at 
$2.00  a  week,  and  board  themselves,  rather  than 
engage  as  servants  at  $3,00  a  week,  with  good 
board  and  lodgings.  There  are  two  causes 
which  make  housework  so  disreputable.  In  the 
first  place,  those  who  employ  servants  take 
unnecessary  and  unnatural  pains  to  make  them 
feel  the  inferiority  of  their  position ;  secondly, 
the  Innovators  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to 
persuade  women  to  go  out  into  the  world  and 
engage  in  something  higher  (!)  than  housework. 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  211 

Now,  we  wisli  to  do  nothing  to  hinder  a 
woman  of  superior  mental  capacity  from  enga 
ging  in  the  highest  occupation  which  she  can  fill. 
But  she  needs  no  encouragement.  Genius 
will  take  care  of  itself.  The  Innovators  forget 
the  sneering  remark  which  they  have  so  often 
made  to  their  opponents,  u  Nature  will  take 
care  of  herself:  why  are  you  so  solicitous  to  as 
sist  her?"  A  woman  of  great  natural  ability 
will  take  care  of  herself.  There  is  no  need  of 
going  through  the  country,  and  warning  the 
people  to  get  out  of  her  way  !  Women  of  genius 
and  common  sense  do  not  stand  still  and  scold 
about  the  obstacles  in  their  path.  No  man  or 
woman  ever  achieved  eminence  without  over 
coming  difficulties.  Prejudice  is  only  one  of 
the  minor  hinderances  which  they  have  met  with. 
Nobody  believes  that  a  certain  man  or  woman 
has  genius,  until  it  is  seen  by  its  effects.  We 
need  less  talk  and  more  action,  before  the  world 
will  believe  all  the  Innovators  say.  Let  them 
show  us  some  practical  good  results,  before  they 
claim  to  be  the  friends  of  woman. 

We  take  the  following  from  an  article  in 
"  Appletoris'  Journal,"  Sept.  4,  by  Catherine  E. 

Beecher :  "  In  Massachusetts,   clurino-  the    last 

& 

ten  years,  among  the  men   of  that  State,  crime 
decreased  at  the  rate  of  8,507  less  than  during 


212  ECCE  FEMINA. 

the  ten  preceding  years,  while,  among  women, 
crime  increased  at  the  rate  of  368  during  the 
same  period ;  that  is,  over  8,000  less  men,  and 
over  300  more  woman,  were  guilty  of  crime 
than  in  the  previous  ten  years." 

In  this  State,  the  Innovators,  during  this  time, 
have  probably  held  more  meetings  and  exerted 
more  influence  than  in  any  other  State  in  the 
Union.  Is  this  the  kind  of  a  reformation  we 
are  to  have  ?  They  have  told  the  public  that 
low  wages  cause  prostitution.  A  poor  woman, 
who  has  hitherto  been  virtuous,  reads  or  hears 
one  of  these  statements,  and  takes  it  (as  it 
really  is)  as  a  sort  of  an  excuse  or  partial  justi 
fication  for  becoming  a  harlot ;  hence  she  yields 
to  the  tempter.  Another  desires  money  for 
fine  clothes,  and  would  partially  justify  herself 
and  take  encouragement  from  such  remarks. 
Proclaiming  such  doctrines  has  a  tendency  to 
lead  women  to  shirk  individual  responsibility, 
and  justify  themselves  in  committing  any  crime. 
The  women  of  Massachusetts  have  been  told  a 
thousand  times  by  the  Innovators  that  they 
were  crushed,  oppressed,  and  down-trodden ; 
and  that  the  men  were  really  guilty  of  causing 
the  crimes  which  they  committed.  It  is  a 
characteristic  of  human  nature,  for  a  guilty 
person  to  try  to  shirk  the  responsibility  on  to 


WOMA  N  '8  SPHERE.  213 

somebody  else.  So  long  as  this  can  be  done, 
there  is  an  encouragement  to  continue  in  crime. 
Women  will  become  worse  and  worse  so  long 
as  they  are  encouraged  in  wickedness  by  being 
told  that  men  are  responsible  for  their  crimes.  If 
a  woman  loses  her  virtue,  the  Innovators  take 
for  granted  that  she  has  been  seduced  by  some 
man  who  is  entirely  to  blame,  while  she  is  to  be 
held  guiltless.  In  some  cases,  perhaps  in  a 
majority,  the  man  is  more  guilty  than  the 
woman  ;  in  others,  the  woman  is  the  seducer. 
There  is  probably  not  one  case  in  a  hundred  in 
which  both  are  not,  to  a  great  extent,  guilty  and 
blamable.  If  women  are  to  be  made  better, 
they  must  be  made  to  feel  that  they  are  re 
sponsible  to  God  and  the  world  for  their  own' 
sins,  and  cannot  excuse  themselves  by  laying 
the  blame  on  man  or  society.  We  believe 
that  man  ought  to  be  more  blamed  and  stigma 
tized  by  society  than  he  is  now,  and  severely 
punished  by  law  ;  but  is  there  any  reason  why 
it  should  be  made  more  respectable  for  a  woman 
to  lose  her  virtue  than  it  is  now  ?  Society 
has  for  a  long  time  been  wrong  in  being  too 
lenient  with  men  who  have  acted  the  part  of 
seducers  ;  but  the  Innovators,  in  this  matter  as 
in  most  others,  have  acted  on  the  wrong  princi 
ple.  They  have  tried  to  excuse  women,  and 


214  ECGE  FEMINA. 

make  these  "  unfortunate  ''  ones  more  respecta 
ble  in  society.  They  have  not  said,  and  cannot 
easily  say,  any  thing  too  severe  against  men  for 
committing  such  crimes,  except  as  they  misrep 
resent  the  relative  wickedness  of  the  two  sexes. 

In  regard  to  Hester  Vaughan,  the  young  wo 
man  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  guilty  of  in 
fanticide,  no  one  could  justly  find  fault  with 
presenting  to  the  public  the  extenuating  cir 
cumstances  which  made  the  crime  less  heinous. 
But  facts  were  not  enough  :  the  whole  affair 
was  exaggerated,  and  the  criminal  was  made  a 
sort  of  heroine,  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  wo 
man's  rights.  Does  not  such  conduct  tend  to 
encourage  like  crimes  ?  The  effect  upon  the 
public  is  much  better  when  there  is  a  calm  and 
candid  presentation  of  the  facts,  than  when 
they  are  presented  in  a  sensational,  theatrical, 
or  exaggerated  manner. 

When  the  good  influences  in  a  State  like 
Massachusetts  have  been  so  great  as  to  decrease 
crime  among  men,  so  that  there  were  more  than 
eight  thousand  less  criminals  in  ten  years, 
while  there  were  three  hundred  more  female 
criminals  in  the  same  time,  there  is  need  of  in 
vestigation.  There  is  some  cause  for  this.  If 
the  Innovators  say  that  it  is  caused  by  low 
wages,  we  reply,  that  their  agitation  has  led 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  215 

young  women  from  the  fireside,  to  engage  in 
more  public  pursuits ;  and  this  has  produced  a 
depreciation  in  the  price  of  female  labor,  so 
that,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  they  have 
increased  crime  and  suffering  among  women. 
Where  can  they  show  any  good  results  to  the 
laboring  classes  from  their  boasted  reform? 
Perhaps  there  are  some,  but  they  are  small 
compared  with  the  evil.  Do  not  come  before 
the  world,  and  excuse  the  matter  on  the  plea 
of  good  intentions.  We  want  proof  that  you  are 
not  crazy  and  fanatical.  Do  not  compare  your 
selves  to  Garrison  and  Phillips,  in  the  anti- 
slavery  conflict.  They  never  exaggerated  or 
misstated  facts.  They  never  lost  their  reasoning 
powers.  It  is  true  they  have  argued  in  favor 
of  female  suffrage,  but  their  language  has  been 
quite  unlike  that  which  has  characterized  the 
movement  in  this  country  as  a  whole.  As  we 
have  not  heard  much  from  them  lately,  in  con 
nection  with  the  Innovators,  we  have  con 
jectured  that  they  do  not  like  the  management 
of  some  persons,  and  are  becoming  disgusted 
with  the  intemperate  manner  in  which  the 
innovation  is  managed.  This  is  only  a  con 
jecture,  and  may  have  no  truth  in  it. 

We   have   had   a    plenty   of    talk,   and    the 
starvation   prices   of  female  labor    have    been 


216  EGCE  FEMINA. 

publicly  noticed  and  declaimed  against  a 
thousand  times  by  the  Innovators  ;  but  what 
have  they  done  towards  procuring  a  remedy  ? 
They  have  discovered  that  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  female  employments  will  raise  the 
price  of  their  labor,  as  the  number  of  competi 
tors  will  then  be  less  in  any  one  department ;  but 
they  have  not  examined  circumstances,  to  see 
how  far  this  is  possible,  if  we  grant  that  it  is 
desirable.  They  have  confused  public  opinion, 
so  that  nobody  knows  what  to  do  to  attain  a 
desired  result.  If  they  will,  each  and  all, 
purchase  a  work  on  political  economy,  and  study 
it  thoroughly,  they  will  learn  that  neither  loud 
talk  nor  female  suffrage  will  assist  laboring  wo 
men.  They  will  also  learn  that  the  course  they 
have  thus  pursued  has  made  matters  worse. 
If  they  had  done  something  to  change  public 
opinion,  so  that  it  would  be  considered  more 
honorable  for  girls  to  engage  in  housework, 
they  would  have  done  something  for  the  relief 
of  destitute  women.  It  ought  to  be  made  dis 
reputable  for  any  woman  to  be  ignorant  of  the 
art  of  cooking,  and  managing  a  household  ; 
for  this  must  always  be  the  main  employment 
of  women,  and  there  will  always  be  a  demand 
for  good  cooks.  Those  who  have  degraded,  by 
sneering  remarks,  the  duties  of  a  female  house- 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  217 

servant  and  the  duties  of  a  wife  and  mother, 
have  increased  the  suffering  of  the  sex,  and 
helped  establish  false  ideas  of  true  woman 
hood.  Public  opinion  must  be  so  changed  that 
female  servants  will  be  allowed  a  higher  social 
position  ;  and  it  ought  to  be  so  changed  that  it 
would  be  considered  disreputable  for  a  young 
woman  to  be  io-norant  of  the  duties  of  a  house- 

£5 

wife,  or  unwilling  to  perform  them  when 
necessary  or  convenient.  Of  course  a  servant 
is  often  necessary  ;  but,  \vhen  a  wife  has  only 
herself  and  husband,  it  is  often  more  work  to 
look  after  a  servant  than  to  take  care  of  her 
own  house.  If  the  Innovators  can  make  the 
position  of  a  cook  in  a  family  even  desirable, 
they  will  then  do  something  practical  and  benefi 
cial  to  women  as  a  class.  This  is  not  impossible, 
for  the  occupation  was  considered  respectable 
in  the  days  of  our  mothers  and  grandmothers. 
If  some  people  would  cease  a  certain  kind  of 
talking  and  complaining,  and  use  rational  com 
mon-sense  language  and  -measures,  these  evils 
could  be  removed  or  greatly  decreased  in  a  few 
years.  When  the  Innovators  do  something 
practical  for  poor  women,  it  will  be  granted 
that  they  are  the  real  friends  of  the  sex  ;  and 
public  prejudice  against  them  will  doubtless 
cease. 


218  ECCE  FEMINA. 

Let  us  now  examine  some  of  the  facts,  and 
ascertain,  if  possible,  the  condition  of  the  class 
needing  relief,  and  the  remedies  available.  In 
the  first  place,  only  a  few  women  seek  employ 
ment  for  life.  The  laborers  are  young  girls, 
widows,  married  women  who  have  met  with 
domestic  trouble  in  some  shape,  and  a  few  older 
unmarried  women.  The  great  majority  of 
them  have  little  or  no  education,  and  many  of 
them  hav^  met  with  trouble  in  some  way,  so 
that  their  minds  are  more  or  less  unfit  for  en 
gaging  in  pursuits  which  require  a  clear  head 
and  skilful  hand.  Open  all  the  avenues  to 
employment  possible,  still  they  cannot  compete 
with  men.  When  a  young  man  starts  out  in 
life,  he  can  obtain  but  a  mere  pittance,  even 
where  there  is  a  fair  prospect  for  him  in  future 
years.  A  boy  is  always  obliged  to  take  the 
odds  and  ends  of  work,  and  can  never  get  as 
good  pay,  according  to  what  he  does,  as  a  man 
can.  Now,  a  great  proportion  of  laboring 
women  seek  employment  for  only  a  few  years, 
at  most,  and  many  for  only  a  few  months,  until 
they  meet  with  better  circumstances  in  some 
way  :  hence  permanent  positions  will  never  be 
kept  open  for  them.  They  will  have  just  that 
position  in  the  labor-market  which  they  can 
hold,  and  no  more. 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  219 

As  the  great  majority  of  educated  women 
are  either  married,  or  engaged  as  teachers,  k  is 
no  disparagement  to  woman  to  say  that  those 
who  are  left  cannot  compare  favorably  with  the 
average  male  laborer :  of  course,  we  include  the 
higher  occupations.  The  most  of  these  are  far 
inferior  to  them,  and  are  not  capable  of  filling 
first-class  positions  ;  hence  their  range  of  em 
ployments  must  always  be  limited.  Those  who 
are  qualified  can  generally  find  situations  as  book 
keepers,  or  in  something  of  that  kind.  But  the 
most  important  fact  is,  that  a  great  many  wo 
men  seek  employment  for  a  short  time,  while 
only  a  few  do  for  life.  Many  intelligent  girls 
go  from  the  country  to  work  in  the  factories  for 
one  or  two  years.  They  would  not  accept 
positions  for  a  long  time,  even  if  they  could  get 
higher  wages.  But  the  sufferers  are  usually 
the  lower  classes  in  the  cities  ;  and  only  a  small 
part  of  them  are  above  mediocrity.  We  must, 
in  considering  this  question,  remember  that  the 
occupations  available  to  those  needing  them 
are  only  those  which  can  be  filled  by  women  of 
moderate  capacity,  for  a  short  time. 

Now,  relief  can  be  furnished  by  opening  the 
way  for  some  to  become  house-servants  and 
cooks,  by  using  means  to  keep  women  from 
collecting  in  large  towns  and  cities,  and  by 


220  *  ECCE  FEMINA. 

leading  them  to  emigrate  from  those  portions 
of  the  country  where  they  are  in  excess  of  the 
male  population  to  others  where  they  are  less 
numerous.  In  the  country  towns  of  New 
England  it  is  often  difficult  to  obtain  female 
servants.  We  have  known  families  to  be  in 
want  of  one  for  several  weeks,  although  all  the 
means  possible  were  used  to  find  one.  Now,  if 
a  society  can  be  formed  which  will  have  agents 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  proper  means 
be  taken  to  know  the  condition  and  needs  of 
every  section,  and  applications  be  received  from 
those  women  desiring  employment,  and  those 
families  or  corporations  needing  female  laborers, 
there  would  then  be  a  fair  prospect  of  improv 
ing  the  condition  of  laboring  womQn.  If  some 
rich  benevolent  individuals  would  give  money 
to  pay  for  railroad-fare  where  it  might  be  neces 
sary,  it  would  be  the  most  economical  method 
of  relieving  suffering,  because  a  two-fold  advan 
tage  would  be  gained  :  those  women  sent  out 
of  a  crowded  city  would  obtain  employment, 
and  those  who  remained  would  receive  better 
wages,  as  there  would  be  fewer  seeking  the 
same  positions.  In  the  whole  country,  there 
are  probably  no  more  women  than  needed  at 
respectable  wages  ;  and,  if  this  plan  is  practicable, 
it  certainly  would  accomplish  the  desired  end. 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE:  221 

We  believe  that  there  is  something  of  the  kind 
in  large  cities  now  ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  include 
the  whole  country,  to  obtain  any  permanent 
good  result.  If  any  one  has  a  better  plan,  it 
should  be  laid  before  the  public.  Something 
should  be  done  to  change  public  opinion,  so  that 
American  girls  would  consider  it  an  honor  to 
obtain  a  position  as  house-servant.  Work  of  any 
kind  must  not  be  considered  degrading.  If 
false  notions  of  dignity  and  respectability  are  to 
be  established,  as  they  are  in  some  European 
countries,  then  some  portions  of  the  community 
must  either  starve  or  beg. 

There  is  a  passage  in  James,  which  the 
majority  of  Innovators  seem  to  have  forgotten, 
if  they  ever  read  it :  "  If  a  brother  or  sister  be 
naked,  and  destitute  of  daily  food,  and  one  of 
you  say  unto  them,  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye 
warmed  and  filled  ;  notwithstanding  ye  give 
them  not  those  things  which  are  needful  to  the 

O 

body :  what  doth  it  profit  ? "  They  have 
expressed  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  for  laboring 
women,  but  it  has  been  nothing  but  talk.  They 
have  devised  no  practical  measures  for  their 
relief.  The  boasted  increase  of  the  number 
of  female  employments  has  proved  more  of  a 
curse  than  a  blessing,  as  women  have  been  led 
to  forsake  the  healthy  duties  of  a  housekeeper. 


222  ECGE  FEMINA. 

and  engage  in  unhealthy  shops,  where  they  have 
lost  both  physical  and  moral  vigor.  If  this 
boasted  reform  should  continue  in  this  way  ten 
years  longer,  statistics  would  tell  a  sad  tale  of 
progress  towards  ruin  !  The  world  may  forgive 
the  Innovators  for  the  harm  which  they  have 
already  produced,  since  they  intended  good. 
We  fear,  however,  that  a  few  were  influenced 
by  ambitious  desires  to  make  themselves  famous, 
rather  than  by  philanthropic  motives.  At  all 
events,  the  public  should  demand,  for  the 
future,  that  there  be  more  calm  thought  and  a 
thorough  study  of  the  circumstances,  as  well  as 
less  headstrong  language  and  action.  In  the 
antislavery  conflict,  those  who  were  immediately 
concerned  were  not  within  the  reach  of  the 
agitation  ;  but  all  classes  of  women  feel  the  in 
fluence  of  the  Innovators,  and  those  of  weak 
minds  or  small  moral  principle  imbibe  the  ex 
travagant  language  of  the  agitators,  and  think 
that  the  movement  means  license  ;  hence  they 
become  more  reckless  and  wicked.  If  a  man 
accidentally  drops  a  coal  of  fire  into  a  powder- 
magazine,  it  will  explode  as  quickly  as  though 
he  had  done  it  intentionally.  There  is  no 
greater  heresy  held  by  people  than  the  idea 
that  it  makes  little  difference  what  a  man  be 
lieves,  if  he  is  only  sincere.  Sincerity  has  been 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  223 

the  ruin  of  thousands.  It  must  be  coupled 
with  knowledge  and  wisdom,  when  it  becomes 
an  angel  of  peace  and  a  harbinger  of  future 
good. 

If  we  are  not  mistaken,  whenever  any  thing 
practical  has  been  done  for  the  good  of  woman, 
those  men  and  women  who  do  not  favor  female 
suffrao-e  have  been  more  active  than  those -who 

O 

do.     We  have  but  little  knowledge  in  regard  to 

o  o 

the  "  American  Woman's  Educational  Associa 
tion  ; "  but,  so  far  as  we  do  know,  we  should 
think  that  the  plan,  if  carried  out,  would  do 
much  to  remove  existing  evils.  At  all  events, 
something  besides  condemning  the  public,  and 
finding  fault  with  prejudice,  must  be  done  before 
woman's  condition  will  be  better. 

If  the  plan  which  we  have  suggested  should 
be  carried  out,  laboring  women  would  be  in  a 
comfortable  condition  ;  yet  they  would  not  re 
ceive  as  much  compensation  as  men  do.  Now, 
some  may  ask,  What  can  be  done  to  secure  for  * 
women  as  good  wages  as  men  obtain,  in  proportion 
to  what  they  do?  We  reply  *ihat  woman's  wel 
fare,  as  well  as  man's,  requires  that  her  wages  con 
tinue  to  be  much  less  than  his,  perhaps  one-half 
as  much.  This  seems  absurd  and  contradictory 
at  first ;  but  let  us  examine  the  circumstances. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  family  is  the 


224  ECCE  FEMINA. 

basis  upon  which  society  is  built ;  and  the  good 
of  this  institution  is  paramount.  The  family  can 
not  be  properly  organized  and  sustained,  unless 
the  husband  can  earn  money  enough  to  support 
his  wife  and  children,  as  well  as  himself.  Socie 
ty  is  in  an  unhealthy  condition  when  the 
majority  of  wives  are  obliged  to  go  abroad  to 
earn  money  to  help  support  the  family.  A 
high  state  of  civilization  is  not  possible  under 
such  circumstances.  Children  become  little  bet 
ter  than  barbarians,  unless  they  are  watched  and 
cared  for.  That  the  wife  may  remain  at  home, 
it  is  necessary  for  the  husband  to  be  able  to  earn 
the  wages  of  two  :  so  that,  in  one  sense,  women's 
wages  are  as  high  as  men's,  when  they  receive 
half  as  much,  as  what  he  earns  belongs  not  to 
himself  merely,  but  to  the  family,  and  is  used 
for  its  support.  If  a  man  who  earns  his  living  by 
manual  labor  were  obliged  to  pay  a  female 
servant,  to  assist  his  wife,  as  much  as  his  own 
wages  amounted  to,  there  would  be  nothing  left 
to  support  the  family.  When  we  take  the  sup 
port  and  education  of  the  children  into  consider 
ation,  it  is  evident  that  men  must  have  facilities 
in  their  hands,  which,  on  the  whole,  enable  them 
to  procure  four  or  five  times  as  much  as  a  single 
woman  would  need.  Suppose  a  young  woman 
gets  a  good  education,  but  can  earn  only  one- 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE. 

half  as  much  by  teaching  as  her  future  husband 
can.  Perhaps  she  wishes  to  teach  a  year  or  two 
to  earn  something  to  prepare  her  for  marriage. 
Now,  she  is  not  expected  to  have  much  besides 
her  wardrobe,  while  he  is  supposed  to  have 
earned  money  enough  to  buy  a  house ;  or,  at 
least,  to  be  in  such  a  situation  that  he  may  have 
good  reasons  for  expecting  that  he  can  support 
himself  and  wife  comfortably.  Now,  is  it  not 
better  for  this  young  woman,  that  society  is  so 
constituted  that  she  can  get  only  small  wages 
for  a  few  months  or  years,  rather  than  that  her 
husband  should  be  so  situated  that  their  family 
would  be  in  straitened  circumstances  during 
their  whole  life  ? 

But  some  one  may  say,  "  I  know  a  girl  who  is 
obliged  to  support  herself  and  two  sick  parents." 
Such  cases  are  rare,  and  we  cannot  change 
the  whole  course  of  society  to  benefit  the  few. 
Where  there  is  one  such  case,  there  are  a  thou 
sand  men  who  have  a  family  to  support.  Shall 
society  be  organized  for  the  good  of  the  one,  or 
the  thousand  ?  In  this  world  of  sin  and  sorrow, 
it  is  impossible  to  make  such  reforms  that  all 
can  be  equally  provided  for.  The  death  of 
fathers  will  leave  many  families  destitute.  Gen 
eral  remedies  cannot  be  provided,  so  that  all  will 
be  able  to  take  care  of  themselves  in  adversity. 

15 


226  ECCE  FEMINA. 

The  poor  must  sometimes  be  assisted  by  special 
charities,  or  supported  by  the  State.  Yet  we 
ought  to  take  care  to  make  these  cases  as  rtire 
as  possible.  If  the  Innovators  desire  to  change 
society  so  that  women  can  earn  as  much  as  men, 
and  have  half  of  the  avenues  to  wealth  in  their 
hands,  they  are  providing  a  remedy  which  is  a 
thousand-fold  worse  than  the  disease.  This  would 
practically  compel  women  to  leave  their  homes 
and  earn  money  like  their  husbands.  It  would 
be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  destruction  of 
the  family,  and  the  disintegration  of  modern  so 
ciety.  We  should  have  all  of  individual  rights 
that  could  be  desired ;  for  there  would  be  noth 
ing  but  individuality,  since  the  familv  could  no 
longer  exist  as  it  is  now.  The  Innovators  have 
undertaken  more  than  they  can  accomplish ;  for 
this  little  institution  called  the  family  is  stronger 
than  all  the  forces  that  can  be  brought  against 
it.  Men  and  women  will  defend  it  at  all 
hazards.  But  some  others  may  say,  "  We  do 
not  wish  or  intend  any  thing  of  this  kind." 
Then  your  schemes  are  not  practicable,  and  can 
not  succeed.  Men  and  women  can  never  be  on 
the  same  footing  in  the  political  and  financial 
world  ;  or,  more  properly,  single  women  cannot 
be  considered  of  as  much  importance  as  whole 
families. 


WOMAN'S  SPUE  HE.  227 

But  some  one  may  ask  us  what  becomes 
of  bachelors,  on  this  theory.  They  are,  to  say 
the  least,  all  guilty  of  embezzlement,  perhaps 
not  with  "malice  aforethought;"  yet  society 
has  not  merely  given  them  facilities  for  self- 
support,  but  for  procuring  money  to  provide  for 
a  wife  and  children  ;  and,  if  they  use  all  this 
money  for  selfish  purposes,  it  is  certainly  a  misap 
propriation.  If  a  woman  prefers  to  remain  single, 
notwithstanding  the  difficulties  in  her  path,  there 
does  not  seem  to  be  that  chance  to  blame  her 
which  there  is  in  the  case  of  a  man  who  takes 
advantage  of  the  constitution  of  society,  and  robs 
some  woman  of  a  support,  not  because  his  Crea 
tor  made  it  right  for  him  to  do  so,  but  because 
he  can.  If  \ve  come  to  strict  justice,  govern 
ment  would  do  right  in  taking  half  or  more  of  a 
bachelor's  property,  and  applying  it  to  the  relief 
of  destitute  women.  But  this,  of  course,  would 
not  be  very  practicable,  as  some  might  plead  that 
they  were  preparing  for  marriage,  and  others 
that  they  had  offered  themselves,  and  been  re 
fused.  When  people  find  a  rich  bachelor  living 
by  himself,  they  have  an  instinctive  feeling  that 
he  ought  to  share  his  wealth  with  a  wife.  How 
ever,  many  support  one  or  more  female  relatives, 
so  that  they  may  loepardoned  for  their  disregard 
of  natural  law.  But  this  principle  is  certainly 


228  ECCE  FEM1NA. 

involved  in  the  constitution  of  modern  society : 
that  a  single  man  has  not  done  half  his  duty 
when  he  merely  supports  himself. 

If  the  family  relation  is  to  he  sustained  on 
principles  which  will  enahle  society  to  advance 
in  every  thing  that  pertains  to  genuine  progress, 
it  must  he  made  possible  for  the  wife  to  remain 
at  home  ;  and  how  can  this  he,  unless  the  hus 
band  has  extra  facilities  for  procuring  wealth  ? 
There  are  evils  connected  with  the  present  sys 
tem  ;  yet  it  is,  after  all,  the  best  that  can  be  de 
vised.  The  good  of  society  demands  that  men 
shall  be  the  producers  and  managers  of  wealth. 
The  evils  of  this  arrangement  liave  been  greatly 
exaggerated.  If  laws  were  based  upon  the  unity 
of  the  family,  many  of  the  present  difficulties 
would  be  removed  ;  and  the  trouble  to  be  feared 
from  this  system  will  be  less  than  in  any  other 
matter  with  which  government  deals,  when  we 
take  into  consideration  the  aggregate  amount 
of  happiness  involved. 

Now,  unless  society  is  to  be  entirely  remod 
elled,  and  founded  upon  individuality  instead  of 
the  family,  the  whole  tendency  of  the  move 
ment  which  the  Innovators  have  inaugurated  is 
to  aggravate  existing  evils.  Relief  can  only 
come  from  making  the  number  of  competing 
female  laborers  as  small  as  possible.  They  need 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  229 

not  be  idle  ;  for  there  is  enough  to  be  done,  with 
out  sendino-  women  into  the  rough  channels  of 

O  C5 

public  life.  Marriage  may  not  always  be  desira 
ble,  but  in  ordinary  circumstances  it  is :  hence, 
any  encouragement  in  the  way  of  placing  un 
married  men  in  a  condition  to  support  wives,  or 
by  making  marriage  honorable  and  respectable, 
would  be  a  public  benefit.  It  ought  to  be  made 
disreputable  for  an  honest  man  to  remain  single. 
The  whole  tendency  of  the  innovation  is  to 
make  it  impossible  for  a  laboring  man  to  support 
a  wife  and  family ;  hence  there  is  nothing 
strange  in  the  fact,  that  prostitution  and  concu- 
binao-e  have  been  on  the  increase.  The  woman 

O 

who  has  a  husband  has  but  little  temptation  to 
become  a  prostitute.  Married  men,  as  well  as 
married  women,  are  sometimes  guilty  of  adul 
tery  ;  but  who  can  doubt  that  a  great  share  of 
the  patronage  which  supports  the  thousands  of 
prostitutes  in  the  country  comes  from  unmar 
ried  men,  who  might  be  persuaded  to  live  re 
spectable  lives  if  they  had  good  wives? 

We  do  not  care  how  good  the  private  opinions 
of  the  Innovators  may  be  in  regard  to  the  fam 
ily  relation :  the  reform  which  they  are  contend 
ing  for  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  revolt 
against  the  family,  an  effort  to  degrade  humanity, 
and  establish  the  customs  of  barbarians.  Let 


230  ECCE  FEM1NA. 

us  see  how  so  grave  a  charge  can  be  established, 
when  these  headstrong  enthusiasts  are  filled  with 
love  for  humanity,  and  a  desire  to  elevate  wo 
man,  and  hate  none  except  men!  Nominally, 
they  are  contending  against  men :  in  reality, 
they  are  opposing  the  interests  of  women  as  well 
as  men  ;  for  they  are  aiming  a  deadly  blow  at  the 
family,  and  setting  in  motion  a  train  of  circum 
stances  or  causes  which  tend  to  increase  the  vio 
lation  of  the  seventh  commandment,  as  well  as 
all  kinds  of  suffering,  misery,  and  crime.  It 
happens  in  this  way  :  "  It  is  now  known  that  mar- 
riao-es  bear  a  fixed  and  definite  relation  to  the 

O 

price  of  corn ;  and,  in  England,  the  experience 
of  a  century  has  proved,  that,  instead  of  having 
any  connection  with  personal  feelings,  they  are 
simply  regulated  by  the  average  earnings  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  people."  (Buckle,  vol.  i.  pp. 
2;3,  24.)  It  does  not  follow  from  this  that  those 
who  do  marry  do  not  love  each  other,  but  that 
those  who  love  each  other  are  kept  from 
marrying  by  adverse  circumstances. 

Let  us  take  an  illustration  as  furnished  by  Mrs. 
Dall.  We  will  here  state  that  we  are  opposed 
to  u  strikes  "  on  the  part  of  laborers,  and  think 
they  should  be  condemned  as  unnatural,  except 
when  capitalists  combine  to  keep  wages  down. 
In  such  cases,  strikes  are  necessary  ;  and  it.  must 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  231 

be  considered  wrong  for  the  laborers  of  one  sex 
to  endeavor  to  thwart  the  purposes  of  the  other 
sex.  Mrs.  D.  informs  us,  that,  in  a  certain  town, 
we  do  not  remember  where,  the  printers  were 
on  a  strike  for  more  pay.  A  certain  man  em 
ployed  nine  of  them,  and  did  not  know  what  to 
do,  until  a  woman  came  to  him,  and  offered  to 
bring  eight  female  printers  besides  herself  to  do 
the  work.  The  consequence  was,  that  these  nine 
men  were  thrown  out  of  employment.  We  do 
not  know  the  circumstances,  and  are  not  pre 
pared  to  say  whether  the  men  were  wrong  and 
the  women  justified,  or  the  men  right  and  the 
women  contemptibly  mean.  We  would  not 
condemn  them  for  seeking  work  by  fair  means. 
But  this  is  doubtless  considered  by  the  Innova 
tors  as  a  glorious  victory  of  woman  over  man. 
Let  us  look  a  little  further,  and  see  how  this  is. 
Perhaps  six  of  these  were  married  men,  who 
had  wives  and  children  depending  upon  their 
labor  for  support,  w7ho  may  have  been  placed  in 
critical  circumstances.  Perhaps  some  of  them 
suffered  from  want  of  food  and  clothing  before 
their  husbands  found  employment  elsewhere. 
Perhaps  one  of  the  young  men  was  about  to  be 
married.  He  may  have  saved  something,  and 
told  his  intended  that  there  was  a  prospect  of 
higher  wages,  so  that  he  could  then  support 


232  EGCE  FEMINA. 

a  wife.  When  he  is  thrown  out  of  employment, 
Ire  feels  discouraged,  disappointed,  and  heart 
broken.  He  goes  to  some  city,  and  finds  work 
as  a  printer  there.  He  writes  to  his  intended, 
that  it  would  cost  so  much  to  live,  that  he  does 
not  see  any  prospect  of  marriage  for  years.  She 
is  then  obliged  to  seek  employment,  so  thai  there 
is  one  more  woman  competing  with  others  to 
keep  down  the  price  of  labor.  Perhaps  this 
young  man  becomes  discouraged  on  account  of 
the  postponement  of  his  marriage,  and  is  led  into 
temptation  as  he  seeks  to  drown  his  troubles 
in  pleasure.  He  may  be  led  to  the  use  of  strong 
drink,  and  from  that  to  houses  of  ill  fame,  and 
so  become  a  moral  ruin.  The  young  woman 
to  whom  he  was  engaged  may  become  disheart 
ened  when  she  finds  that  she  is  forsaken  ;  and,  in 
her  bewilderment,  she  may  be  led,  step  by  step, 
in  the  paths  of  sin,  until  she  is  finally  ruined, 
lost  forever  !  This  is  the  kind  of  reform  we  are 
asked  to  support!  Of  those  women,  probably 
eight  had  only  themselves  to  support,  and  could 
have  found  employment  as  house-servants  until 
they  had  a  chance  to  work  at  their  trade. 

The  Innovators  have  started  on  the  wrong 
principle.  The  only  permanent  cure  for  exist 
ing  evils  is  the  encouragement  of  marriage. 
This  can  be  done  by  hanging  every  man  or  wo- 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  233 

man  who  tries  to  poison  public  opinion  by  teach 
ing  that  there  can  be  any  more  honorable 
employment  for  woman  than  that  of  wife  and 
mother.  Those  who  wish  to  remain  single,  and 
engage  in  any  of  the  higher  intellectual  pursuits 
which  are  not  consistent  with  marriage,  do  not 
need  'encouragement.  They  will  take  care  of 
themselves.  The  effect  of  the  doctrines  which 
some  have  proclaimed  has  been  to  poison  the 
minds  of  the  lower  classes,  and  lead  those  who 
are  well  adapted  to  engage  in  the  healthy  and 
respectable  labor  of  house-work  to  go  into  em 
ployments  which  are  really  less  honorable,  as 
they  lead  to  physical  and  moral  ruin.  However 
good  the  intentions  of  those  blind  enthusiasts 
who  have  been  trying  to  ridicule  and  cast  con 
tempt  upon  the  duties  of  a  wife  and  mother, 
and  have  been  teaching  that  there  are  other 
positions  higher  and  more  honorable,  which 
women  should  seek,  yet  facts  show  that  they 
are  sowing  the  seeds  of  death  ;  hence  we  claim 
that  they  should  be  strangled  by  public  opinion. 
They  ought  to  be  allowed  time  for  retirement, 
study,  and  calm  reflection,  before  death.  They 
have  been  so  faithful  in  spreading  their  doctrines, 
that  they  have  not  had  time  to  stop  and  reckon 
the  gain  and  loss  thus  far.  They  think  that  they 
have  caught  a  glimpse  of  Paradise  ahead  ;  but 


234  ECCE  FEMINA. 

this  has  so  dazzled  their  sight,  that  they  have  not 
been  able  to  see  practical  and  common-sense 
affairs.  They  feel  certain  that  other  people  are 
prejudiced  and  ignorant,  "  suborned  and  syco 
phantic,"  because  they  do  not  see  the  future  as 
they  do !  They  can  see  the  mote  in  the  eye  of 
the  public,  but  — 

O  ye  Innovators  !  do  not  get  angry  with  us 
poor  deluded  wretches,  because  we  cannot  be 
hold  the  glory  which  you  see  so  clearly.  We 
have  not  such  vivid  imaginations  as  you  have. 
Take  us,  step  by  step,  and  point  out  all  the  cir 
cumstances  ;  and  then,  if  you  can  make  it  all 
clear,  we  will  believe  you  :  but  we  have  had 
enough  of  glittering  generalities.  Perhaps  you 
will  show  us  how  many  positions  women  hold 
now,  which  they  did  not  a  few  years  ago. 
Very  well ;  but  let  us  see  how  much  you  have 
gained  by  it.  How  great  an  increase  have  you 
made  in  .  virtue  and  morality  ?  You  point 
proudly  to  Washington,  and  tell  us  what  a  con 
quest  you  have  made  over  prejudice,  as  women 
can  now  be  clerks  in  the  departments.  But 
have  you  counted  the  slain  ?  Do  you  know  how 
much  your  victory  has  cost  you  ?  Let  us  knaw 
the  whole  truth.  Compare  the  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  qualities  of  those  who  labor  to-day, 
with  those  which  existed  among  women  in  1840, 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  235 

before  this  movement  began.  Tell  us  to  how 
great  an  extent  you  have  decreased  prostitution. 
Tell  us  how  much  better  is  the  condition  of 
laboring  women  to-day.  Any  evidence  of  the 
good  already  done  will  increase  our  faith  in  you 
for  the  future,  provided  the  evil  which  you  have 
indirectly  brought  about  does  not  more  than 
counterbalance  the  good.  Let  us  know  to  what 

& 

extent  abortion  and  infanticide  have  decreased. 
Perhaps  you  think  that  we  have  done  you  in 
justice  in  this  chapter ;  but  we  .will  retract  any 
opinion  we  have  expressed,  when  you  give  us 
the  facts,  and  a  better  interpretation  of  them 
than  we  have  given. 

We  will  now  show  how  marriage  can  be  in 
directly  encouraged.  It  is  not  by  giving  female 
laborers  a  better  chance  directly,  but  by  giving 
young  men  a  better  opportunity  to  earn  money 
to  support  a  wife.  Some  of  the  men  and 
women  of  the  present  day  have  made  them 
selves  morally  unfit  for  marriage  ;  but  provision 
can  be  made  for  the  young,  so  that,  when  they 
reach  maturity,  there  will  be  less  temptation  in 
their  path.  If  we  can  increase  the  number  of 
marriages,  of  course  there  will  be  a  smaller 
number  of  women  in  the  labor-market,  hence  a 
better  chance  for  them  to  obtain  fair  wages, 
although  they  must  expect  them  to  be  much 


236  ECCE  FEMINA. 

less  than  man's.  And,  what  is  still  more  im 
portant,  there  will  be  a  smaller  number  of  young 
men  and  women  subject  to  the  temptations  of 
immorality.  Perhaps  prostitution  will  always 
exist  to  a  certain  extent,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of 
good  people  to  check  it ;  but  this  is  the  most 
practicable  method  of  decreasing  the  evil.  If 
parents  and  employers  will  use  their  influence 
to  encourage  marriage  among  the  young  as 
soon  as  they  are  old  enough,  and  in  a  financial 
situation  such  that  it  would  be  advisable,  much 
would  be  gained.  If  companies  would  be  es 
tablished  in  large  cities,  which  would  build 
tenements  in  the  suburbs,  or  near  those  cities, 
which  could  be  rented  at  moderate  rates  only 
to  respectable  young  married  people,  there 
would  be  some  encouragement  to  marriage. 
We  believe  that  it  would  be  a  matter  of 
economy  ta  the  merchants  of  cities,  who  are 
troubled  with  clerks  of  intemperate  or  irregular 
habits,  if  they  would  hold  out  some  inducements 
to  marriage  by  building  tenements,  and  in  other 
ways  encouraging  young  men  to  marry.  If 
young  men  and  women  have  pleasant  homes, 
they  have  less  desire  to  go  where  they  will  meet 
with  temptation.  Life  Insurance  companies 
discovered  long  ago  that  marriage  was  the  best 
guaranty  of  a  steady  life  and  good  habits.  We 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  237 

know  that  there  are  many  intemperate  and 
grossly  immoral  married  men ;  but  there  are  not 
so  many,  comparatively,  as  there  are  among  the 
unmarried:  besides,  the  most  of  these  contracted 
such  habits  before  marriage. 

O 

Encouraging  women  to  engage  in  what  are 
generally  considered  masculine  employments 
lias  an  knmediate  good  effect  in  providing  for 
them  better  means  of  self-support,  but  this  in 
directly  produces  evils  which  more  than  counter 
balance  the  good  effected.  Perhaps  the  wo 
men  themselves  are  placed  in  the  way  of 
temptation.  This  extra  competition  reduces 
the  price  of  male  labor,  so  that  the  number  of 
men  in  circumstances  to  marry  must  be  less  ; 
hence,  other  women  will  be  obliged  to  support 
themselves,  as  they  have  no  chance  to  marry. 
The  more  we  equalize  the  wages  between  the 
sexes,  by  so  much  the  more  we  decrease  the 
probability  of  marriage,  unless  husband  and 
wife  both  go  abroad  and  labor.  Every  one 
must  admit  that  this  is  a  great  evil  in  ordinary 
cases,  although  under  some  circumstances  wives 
prefer  to  leave  home  to  engage  in  some  employ 
ment.  If  the  Innovators  could  brino-  about 

O 

the  changes  for  which  they  have  argued  so 
zealously,  marriage  would  be  impossible  among 
the  laboring  classes,  unless  they  lived  in  a  half- 


EVCE  FEMINA. 

civilized  condition.  There  would  be  as  wide  a 
distinction  between  plebeians  and  aristocrats  as 
there  is  in  any  European  country ;  or  there 
would  be  no  family  organization,  but  men  and 
women  mingled  together  like  beasts.  We  do 
not  believe  it  possible  to  bring  about  so  great  a 
change  in  society  ;  yet  this  movement  may  be 
carried  to  such  an  extent  that  the  number  of 
unmarried  men  and  women  will  become  more 
numerous,  hence  immorality,  suffering,  and 
crime  must  be  greatly  increased.  If  accurate 
statistics  could  be  obtained,  we  have  no  doubt 
it  would  be  proved  that  the  number  of  prosti 
tutes  in  cities  depends  more  upon  the  number 
of  unmarried  men  and  women  than  upon  all 
other  causes  combined.  Intoxicating  drink  is 

O 

in  one  sense  the  most  potent  agent  of  evil  in  the 
world,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  un 
married  are  more  tempted  to  use  it  than  others. 
Perhaps  some  may  think  that  we  give  undue 
importance  to  this  point ;  but,  when  we  consider 
that  it  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  twenty 
thousand  prostitutes  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
the  question  how  to  reduce  this  evil  becomes 
one  of  great  importance.  This  may  be  an 
over  estimate  ;  but  the  increase  of  licentiousness 
throughout  the  country  is  becoming  a  serious 
matter.  To  be  sure,  the  Innovators  have  de- 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  239 

claimed  against  it  as  loudly  as  others ;  but,  in 
their  blind  zeal,  they  have  set  in  motion  in 
fluences  which  have  increased  the  evil.  The 
machinery  of  society  is  complicated  ;  and  it  re 
quires  careful  study  and  foresight,  as  well  as 
good  intentions,  to  prepare  measures  which  will 
really  benefit  the  people. 

This  labor  question  shows  how  intimately 
connected  are  the  interests  of  the  two  sexes. 
One  cannot  be  injured  without  harm  to  the 
other.  In  regard  to  widening  the  sphere  of 
women,  so  that  both  sexes  should  have  an  equal 
chance  to  earn  money,  the  Innovators  supposed 
that  they  were  contending  with  men  ;  when,  in 
reality,  they  were  contending  with  the  family. 
What  woman  gains  with  one  hand  she  throws 
away  with  the  other ;  so  that  this  labor  scheme, 
inaugurated  nominally  for  the  good  of  women, 
like  the  scheme  for  suffrage,  is  really  an  indi 
rect  method  of  forcing  them  from  their  homes, 
and  obliging  them  to  earn  their  own  living. 
u  Ah,  liberty !  what  crimes  are  committed  in 
thy  name !  " 

The  whole  woman's-rights  movement  has 
been  conducted  in  a  reckless  manner.  The  In 
novators  took  a  few  facts,  exaggerated  them, 
and  then  overlooked  or  discarded  other  facts  of 


240  EGCE  FEM1NA. 

more  importance  than  those  which  they  hurled  in 
the  face  of  public  opinion.  They  have  demanded 
suffrage  as  a  right  belonging  to  woman ;  when, 
in  reality,  the  majority  of  women  do  not  desire 
it,  and  believe  the  measure  opposed  to  their 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  welfare,  and  would 
consider  it  an  act  of  tyranny  to  be  either  di 
rectly  or  indirectly  forced  to  go  to  the  ballot- 
box.  They  have  been  so  monstrously  incon 
sistent  as  to  pretend  to  be  the  representatives  of 
women,  when  they  accuse  the  majority  of  them 
of  stupidity,  sycophancy,  and  lying.  Mill  is 
not  the  only  one  that  has  done  this.  A  large 
proportion  of  -the  speeches  made  in  this  country 
have  in  some  way  cast  a  slur  upon  the  mass  of 
women.  Some  have  openly  denounced  them 
for  not  supporting  the  innovation  ;  others  by 
implication,  when  they  praise  the  good  sense, 
bravery,  and  nobility  of  character  of  those  wo 
men  who  do  demand  suffrage.  The  Innovators 
have  rarely  been  so  candid  as  to  admit  that 
those  women  who  were  not  in  favor  of  their 
movement  were  governed  by  any  thing  better 
than  blind  prejudice.  If  the  mass  of  women 
were  really  what  they  have  often  represented 
them  to  be,  they  would  not  be  fit  for  civilized 
life.  They  have  discussed  the  labor  question  as 


WOMAN'S  SPHERE.  241 

though  those  women  who  support  themselves 
were  the  only  parties  concerned,  and  then  only 
in  a  mercenary  way  ;  when,  in  fact,  the  financial 
interests  of  eveiy  family  in  the  land  are  in 
volved  in  this  question,  and  the  moral  and 
religious  welfare  of  the  whole  community. 
They  have  recklessly  urged  the  employment  of 
men  and  women  together,  without  regard  to  the 
extra  danger  to  virtue  and  morality :  when  a 
little  reflection  ought  to  convince  any  one  that 
an  increase  of  temptation  is  equivalent  to  an  in 
crease  of  sin.  We  do  not  deny  that  they  have 
told  us  much  truth,  but  it  has  not  been  the 
whole  truth.  They  have  presented  almost  every 
subject  in  a  partial,  one-sided  manner. 

If  we  have  been  correct  in  considering  that 
the  starting  point  for  a  reform  is  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  male  laborer,  the  public 
ought  to  consider  candidly  the  claims  of  labor. 
If  we  have  made  no  mistake,  the  moral  as  well 
as  the  physical  good  of  the  public  is  at  stake. 
Laboring  men  must  be  in  a  condition  to  support 
a  family,  if  we  wish  to  encourage  good  habits  and 
check  wickedness.  There  is  no  spot  on  earth 
like  home.  The  hallowed  influence  of  the 
family  has  saved  millions,  while  the  want  of 
this  influence  has  ruined  thousands.  Who  has 

16 


242  ECCE  FEMINA. 

the  least  doubt  that  the  Creator  intends  mar 
riage  for  all  where  it  is  possible  ?  And  is  it 
not  the  duty  of  society  to  encourage  it,  and  help 
to  place  all  in  such  circumstances  that  it  will  be 
not  only  possible  but  convenient  ? 


MISCELLANEOUS.  243 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

[T  lias  been  frequently  stated  that 
women  have  always  been  in  a  state 
of  subjection  to  men,  and  that,  on 
this  account,  experience  can  give 
no  testimony  on  this  subject.  It  has  been  also 
urged  that  any  reasoning  on  the  question  must 
be  a  priori.  This  is  true  only  in  part,  as  nearly 
all  the  principles  involved  have  been  tested  by 
experience.  Those  which  are  involved  in  the 
labor  question  have  been  tried,  although  some 
additional  truth  may  yet  be  learned  by  special 
application  of  statistics  to  this  matter  as  it  now 
stands  and  will  stand  for  a  few  years  to  come. 

Mill  saw  plainly  that  the  presumption  in  favor 
of  the  present  relation  of  the  sexes  must  remain, 
unless  he  could  show  that  it  was  brought  about  by 
forced  and  unnatural  means.  The  only  argu 
ment  of  importance  which  he  produced  to  weak 
en  this  presumption  was  the  fact  that  brute 
force  had  played  an  important  part  in  the  early 


244  ECCE  FEMINA. 

ages  of  history.  He  asserts  that  women  have 
always  been  in  subjection  to  men  :  hence  their 
natural  powers  have  never  had  a  chance  to  de 
velop.  Now,  there  is  a  total  lack  of  proof  that 
they  are,  at  the  present  time,  out  of  their  natural 
position,  and  are  in  subjection  to  men.  We  quote 
the  following,  to  show,  that,  during  the  middle 
ages,  men  were  subject  to  the  power  of  wo 
men  :  — 

"  Gassier,  in  his  4  Histoire  de  la  Chevalerie 
Franchise,'-  speaking  of  the  romancers,  or 
troubadours,  has  the  following  :  — 


" '  Many  knights  are  numbered  among  these  poets.  To 
consecrate  his  heart  and  his  homage  to  a  mistress,  to  live  for 
her  exclusively,  for  her  to  aspire  to  all  the  glory  of  arms  and 
of  the  virtues,  to  admire  her  perfections,  and  assure  to  them 
public  admiration,  to  aspire  to  the  title  of  her  servant  and 
her  slave,  and  to  think  himself  blessed,  if,  in  recompense  of  so 
great  a  love  and  of  so  great  efforts,  she  deign  to  accept  them  ; 
in  a  word,  to  serve  his  lady  as  a  kind  of  divinitv,  whose  favors 
can  but  be  the  prize  of  the  noblest  sentiments,  a  divinity  who 
cannot  be  loved  without  respect,  and  who  cannot  be  respected 
without  love,  —  this  was  one  of  the  principal  duties  of  every 
knight,  or  of  whosoever  desired  to  become  one.  The  imagi 
nation  sought  to  exalt  itself  with  such  a  scheme  of  love; 
and  by  forming  heroes,  it  (the  scheme  of  love,  we  presume) 
gave  reality  to  all  the  flights  of  the  poet's  imagination  of  that 
time.  The  fair  whose  charms  and  whose  merit  the  knights 
troubadours  celebrated  —  those  earthly  goddesses  of  chivalry  — 
welcomed  them  with  a  winning  generosity,  and  often  repaid 
their  compliments  with  tender  favors.  .  .  .  It  is  easy 


MISCELLANEOUS.  245 

to  understand,  that,  love  and  war  being  the  spring  of  all  their 
actions,  some  celebrated  the  deeds  of  arms  which  had  rendered 
so  many  brave  knights  illustrious,  while  others  sang  of  the 
beauty,  the  graces,  and  the  charms  of  their  ladies,  and  of  the 
tender  sentiments  with  which  the  ladies  had  inspired  them.' 

"  St.  Palaye,  speaking  of  the  duties  of  knights, 
remarks,  4  It  was  one  of  the  capital  points  of 
their  institution  on  no  account  to  speak  ill  of 
ladies,  and  on  no  account  to  allow  any  one  in 
their  presence  to  dare  to  speak  ill  of  ladies.' 
In  a  note  he  says,  '  This  is,  of  ail  the  laws 
of  chivalry,  that  which  was  maintained  at  all 
times  with  the  greatest  rigor  among  the  French 
nobility.'  '  If  a  virtuous  dame,'  says  Bran- 
tome,  as  quoted  by  St.  Palaye,  4  desire  to  main 
tain  her  position  by  means  of  his  valor  and 
constancy,  her  servant  by  no  means  grudges 
his  life  to  support  and  defend  her,  if  she  runs 
the  least  hazard  in  the  world,  either  as  regards 
her  life  or  her  honor,  or  in  case  any  evil  may 
have  been  said  of  her  ;  as  I  have  seen  in  our 
court  many  who  have  silenced  slanderers  who 
have  dared  to  detract  from  their  mistresses  and 
ladies,  whom,  by  the  duty  and  laws  of  chivalry, 
we  are  bound  to  serve  as  champions  in  their 
troubles.' 

"  '  By  the  custom  of  Burgundy,  a  young  maid 
could  save  the  life  of  a  criminal  if  she  met  him 


J46  EGCE  FEMINA. 


by  accident,  for  the  first  time,  going  to  execu 
tion,  and  asked  him  in  marriage.'  4  Is  it  not 
true,'  asks  Marchangy,  '  that  the  criminal  who 
can  interest  a  simple  and  virtuous  maid,  so  as 
to  be  chosen  for  a  husband,  is  not  so  guilty  as 
he  may  appear,  and  that  extenuating  circum 
stances  speak  secretly  in  his  favor  ?  '  Again  : 
4  The  greatest  enemies  to  the  feudal  system 
have  acknowledged  that  the  preponderance  of 
domestic  manners  was  its  essential  characteristic. 
In  the  early  education  of  youth,  women  were 
represented  as  the  objects  of  respectful  love,  and 
the  dispensers  of  happiness.' 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  adduce  further  proof 
of  the  eminence  to  which,  morally,  woman  was 
exalted.  Her  empire  was  notorious  and  un 
challenged.  All  writers  of  those  times  cele 
brate  it,  and  in  recent  times  it  has  been  attested 
by  the  charming  pen  of  Scott,  and  by  the  sneer  of 
Gibbon.  The  theory  of  the  worship  is  beyond 
dispute ;  but  it  may  be  interesting  to  examine 
how  the  practice  of  chivalry  accorded  with  its 
profession,  and  whether  the  power  and  position 
of  the  sex  were  substantially  as  dazzling  as 
speculation  represented  them.  Upon  reflection 
we  shall  probably  all  admit  that  they  were  so  ; 
for,  though  the  phase  of  lady-worship  most 
familiar  to  us  is  seen  in  the  practice  of  the 


MISCELLANEOUS.  247 

knights-errant,  to  whose  vagaries  a  certain 
amount  of  ridicule  attaches,  there  is  ample  evi 
dence  of  a  real,  practical,  established  female 
ascendency.  The  wandering  or  the  soldier 
knight  would  vaunt  the  charms  and  virtues  of 
a  mistress  whose  favor  he  might  or  might  not 
wear,  and  enforce  the  acknowledgment  of 
them  with  the  point  of  his  lance  ;  he  would 
draw  his  sword  for  the  deliverance  of  a  captive 
lady,  or  to  redress  a  lady's  wrong  :  but,  inde 
pendently  of  the  effects  of  real  or  fancied  pas 
sion,  independently  of  acts  of  individual  com 
passion  or  generosity  or  condescension,  the  sex, 
as  such,  undoubtedly  did  experience  and  exer 
cise  the  benefits  and  the  powers  which  the 
knight's  profession  assigned  to  it.  In  proof  of 
this,  be  it  remembered  that  a  lady  never  hesi 
tated  to  lay  her  commands  upon  a  knight, 
whether  specially  devoted  to  her  service  or  not ; 
and  that  it  was  imperative  upon  the  knight  to 
obey  her,  except  the  command  should  unfortu 
nately  be  incompatible  with  his  devoir  to  his 
own  elected  lady,  to  his  sovereign,  or  to  a 
brother-in-arms.  Conflicting  orders  and  duties 
thus  sometimes  placed  an  unhappy  knight  in  a 
'  fix ; '  and  so  delicate  an  affair  was  it,  that, 
when  he  had  the  opportunity  of  obtaining 
advice,  he  generally  submitted  himself  to  the 


248  ECCE  FEMINA. 

decision  of  a  court  of  honor.  The  expressed 
approbation  of  a  noble  or  beautiful  lady,  whether 
dame  or  demoiselle,  was  fame.  The  ladies  could 
and  did  soften  and  exalt  the  characters  of 
knights,  and  the  sentiments  of  knighthood  gen 
erally.  '  They  can  even  impart,'  says  Digby, . 
4  noble  and  generous  sentiments  ;  so  that  their 
power  exceeds  that  of  kings,  who  can  grant 
only  the  titles  of  nobility.'  ' 

We  take  the  above  from  an  article  in  "  Black- 
wood,"  and  reprinted  in  "  The  Eclectic,"  March, 
1868.  We  will  also  give  an  extract  from  Hallam : 
"  Next,  therefore,  or  even  equal  to  devotion, 
stood  gallantry  among  the  principles  of  knight 
hood.  But  all  comparison  between  the  two 
was  saved  by  blending  them  together.  The 
love  of  God  and  the  ladies  was  enjoined  as  a 
single  duty.  He  who  was  faithful  and  true  to 
his  mistress  was  held  sure  of  salvation  in  the 
theology  of  castles,  though  not  of  cloisters. 
Froissart  announces  that  he  had  undertaken  a 
collection  of  amorous  poetry,  with  the  help  of 
God  and  of  love ;  and  Bocacce  returns  thanks 
to  each  for  their  assistance  in  the  '  Decameron.' 
The  laws  sometimes  united  in  this  general  hom 
age  to  the  fair.  4  We  will,'  says  James  II.  of 
Aragon,  '  that  every  man,  whether  knight  or 
no,  who  shall  be  in  company  with  a  lady,  pass 


MISCELLANEOUS.  249 

safe  and  unmolested,  unless  he  be  guilty  of 
murder.'  Louis  II. ,  Duke  of  Bourbon,  insti 
tuting  the  order  of  the  Golden  Shield,  enjoins 
his  knights  to  honor,  above  all,  the  ladies,  and 
not  to  permit  any  one  to  slander  them  ;  because 
from  them,  after  God,  comes  all  the  honor  that 
men  can  acquire."  ("  Middle  Ages,"  chap. 
ix.,  Part  II.) 

These  passages  are  sufficient  to  disprove  the 
assertion  that  women  have  always  been  under 
the  power  of  men.  If  they  had  preferred 
man's  position  to  their  own,  they  could  have 
taken  it ;  for  they  could  have  had  what  they 
asked.  It  is  true  that  a  few  women  tried  the 
sphere  of  man,  but  there  was  no  general  mani 
festation  of  such  a  desire.  It  is  a  most  impor 
tant  fact,  that  this  same  chivalrous  spirit,  minus 
the  extravagances,  has  been  preserved  to  the 
present  time.  Since  then,  woman's  social  posi 
tion  has  generally  been  higher  than  man's,  as  it  is 
at  the  present  time.  Says  Mill,  "  The  beauties 
and  graces  of  the  chivalrous  character  are  still 
what  they  were."  In  the  middle  ages,  women 
were  placed  in  a  loftier  position  than  mortals 
could  occupy  permanently  ;  yet  enough  of  this 
feeling  on  the  part  of  men  has  been  preserved 
to  satisfy  any  reasonable  woman.  An  excess 
of  devotion  is  now  disgusting  to  a  woman  of 


250  ECVE  FEMINA. 

good  sense.  No  one  can  truly  say  that  force, 
for  the  past  three  hundred  years,  has  had  influ 
ence  enough  to  make  any  difference  with 
woman's  position  among  the  most  enlightened 
nations.  If  women  are  placed  and  held  in 
their  present  position  by  force,  it  is  strange  that- 
the  great  majority  of  them  cannot  be  made  to 
believe  it. 

We  have  the  testimony  of  experience  against 
female  suffrage.  Dr.  Bushnell  has  given  us 
a  good  description  of  the  evil  effects  of  female 
suffrage  in  New  Jersey.  We  have  no  evidence 
that  there  was  any  desirable  result.  During 
the  thirty-one  years  that  women  were  allowed 
to  vote  in  that  State,  their  attendance  at  the 
ballot-box  was  so  irregular,  that  they  nearly  all 
voted  some  years,  and  nearly  all  remained  at 
home  others.  Some  of  them  did  not  scruple  to 
vote  as  many  times  in  one  day  as  some  men  do 
in.  New  York.  Perhaps  it  will  be  claimed  that 
we  cannot  tell  much  by  this  one  trial ;  but,  if 
female  suffrage  had  been  a  success  in  New 
Jersey,  who  doubts  that  the  Innovators  would 
lay  great  stress  upon  this  fact  in  every  public 
speech  ?  At  present,  they  are  obliged  to  com 
fort  themselves  with  incidents  of  much  less 
importance.  As  far*  as  we  have  facts,  there  are 
no  indications  that  women  would  purify  poli- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  251 

tics ;  while  we  have  proofs  of  an  opposite 
nature,  which  make  the  theory  which  was 
offered  in  a  former  part  of  this  book  seem  more 
probable  than  any  other.  History  informs  us 
that  a  woman's  sympathies  are  stronger  than 
her  judgment  or  reasoning  powers  ;  hence  that 
part  of  her  nature  which  is  her  glory  in  her 
present  position  would  expose  her  to  great 
danger  in  public  life. 

As  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of  the  present 
system,  it  is  necessary  for  the  Innovators  to 
make  it  appear  very  probable  that  much  more 
good  than  evil  would  be  brought  about  by  the 
proposed  change.  It  is  mere  buncombe  to 
make  pathetic  speeches  on  this  subject,  as 
though  it  were  a  matter  of  natural  right  and 
justice  to  woman.  It  is  assuming,  the  point 
which  is  to  be  proved,  and  which  the  mass  of 
men  and  women  clo  not  believe.  When  the 
majority  of  women  authorize  th£  Innovators  to 
speak  in  their  behalf,  they  can  make  pathetic 
appeals  to  men,  with  more  consistency.  There 
is  something  ludicrous  in  the  pretensions  of  a 
small  band  of  men  and  women  who  come 
before  the  public  and  assume  that  they  are 
speaking  for  women,  when  they  are  really 
speaking  against  them.  They  need  a  different 
method  of  agitation  if  they  wish  to  enlist 


252  ECCE  FEMINA. 

women  in  their  cause.  It  is  a  strong  presump 
tion  against  the  soundness  of  this  movement, 
that  it  is  obliged  to  resort  to  such  catch-words 
as  "  Idiots  and  Women,"  "  Eggs,  Blown-glass, 
and  Women."  Reformers  usually  rely  on 
something  more  substantial.  What  would  they 
say  to  their  opponents,  if  they  should  try  to 
show  that  man's  condition  is  worse  than 
woman's  by  pointing  to  the  farmers  at  work  in 
their  fields,  and  crying  out  sneeringly,  "  Horses, 
Mules,  and  Men"?  Not  long  since,  we  heard  a 
woman  deliver  a  lecture,  who  did  not  produce 
a  single  substantial  argument  to  sustain  her 
cause,  but  assailed  her  opponents  with  scorn 
and  ridicule.  Before  her  speech  was  closed,  she 
gave  them  a  moral  lecture  on  the  use  of 
sarcasm,  and  warned  them  that  they  could  not 
hinder  this  great  movement  by  ridicule !  The 
Innovators  complain  when  any  one  attacks  them 
with  satire,  but  this  is  the  chief  weapon  which 
they  use  to  achieve  success !  They  are  right 
eously  indignant  with  their  opponents,  simply 
because  they  themselves  desire  the  monopoly  of 
scorn  and  ridicule !  Yet  they  are  not  to  be 
blamed  so  much  for  this,  because,  if  they  can 
not  be  allowed  to  exaggerate  and  ridicule,  their 
boasted  reform  becomes  a  very  tame  affair. 
When  we  obtained  a  copy  of  "  The  Sub- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  253 

jection  of  Women,"  we  expected  to  find  Mill 
free  from  those  extravagant  statements  which 
others  had  made ;  but  we  were  disappointed. 
Exaggeration  is  a  mild  term  to  apply  to  some 
things  which  he  says.  In  one  part  of  the  book 
he  argues  that  no  one  has  a  right  to  any  thing 
more  than  conjectures  on  this  question  ;  yet,  in 
other  places,  he  himself  makes  positive  state 
ments,  and  then  reasons  from  them.  He 
seems  to  have  a  natural  inclination  to  be  candid, 
as  he  admits  some  facts  which  do  not  assist  him  ; 
yet,  when  he  is  in  a  place  where  he  needs  proof, 
he  does  not  hesitate  to  assume  propositions 
which  are  directly  contradictory  to  what  he 
has  already  written.  On  pp.  136-139,  he  argues 
that  the  duties  of  women  are  already  so 
numerous  that  they  can  have  no  time  to  com 
pete  with  men  in  preparing  works  on  philoso 
phy,  science,  &c. ;  yet  he  does  not  conjecture,  but 
states  positively,  on  p.  153,  that  the  proposed 
widening  of  woman's  sphere  would  have  the 
effect  of  "  doubling  the  mass  of  mental  faculties 
available  for  the  higher  service  of  humanity." 
We  have  already  noticed  a  similar  case.  He 
writes  much  that  is  good  and  true,  but  most  of 
the  statements  of  this  kind  give  little  or  no 
support  to  his  theory.  He  assumes  many  things 
that  he  ought  to  prove,  and  often  seems  deter- 


254  ECGE  FEMINA. 

mined  to  carry  his  point  at  all  hazards.  If  he 
should  write  a  book  on  u  The  Subjection  of 
Men,"  and  use  the  same  ingenuity,  and  assume 
as  many  things,  he  would  certainly  give  us  a 
very  plausible  production.  Of  course  he  would 
assume  that  men  are  in  a  state  of  subjection  to 
women.  Let  us  see  how  it  would  read. 

"  It  does  not  avail  any  thing  that  men  declare 
that  they  prefer  their  present  position.  A  great 
part  of  what  men  say  is  mere  sycophancy  to 
women.  They  desire  to  be  highly  esteemed  by 
the  other  sex.  Men  have  thus  far  given  but 
little  testimony,  and  that  little  mostly  suborned. 
What  unmarried  men  say  about  women  is  not 
their  real  opinion ;  but  they  talk  merely  for 
the  sake  of  increasing  their  chances  of  marriage. 
When  a  merchant  labors  hard  to  earn  his  thou 
sands,  in  order  that  his  wife  may  wear  costly 
jewels  and  have  a  splendid  wardrobe,  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  he  would  submit  to  this 
slavish  life  if  he  were  allowed  a  fair  chance  to 
express  his  real  views.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  women  have  better  means  of  keeping  their 
subjects  in  submission  than  any  slaveholder 
ever  had :  hence  this  would  outlast  all  other 
forms  of  slavery.  Of  course,  this  counterbal 
ances  any  presumption  in  favor  of  the  present 
system.  Women  have  such  winning  ways  and 


MISCELLANEOUS.  255 

power  of  charming,  that  they  can  make  men 
believe  that  they  are  working  for  themselves, 
when,  in  reality,  they  are  merely  the  servants 
of  women.  They  flatter  men  by  allowing 
them  to  keep  the  semblance  of  power,  when  the 
essence  is  in  their  own  hands.  Men  merely  act 
for  women,  as  the  horse  does  for  its  owner. 
Women  have  been  known  to  cause  men  to 
frame  laws  which  are  more  advantageous  to 
themselves  than  to  men.  Of  course,  they  pre 
fer  to  avoid  the  tedium  of  legislation,  so  long  as 
men  are  their  obedient  servants.  Everywhere 
we  find  men  the  most  humble  slaves.  They 
give  up  their  seats  to  women,  and  sometimes 
risk  their  lives  for  their  good.  Women  have 
always  pretended  that  men  were  not  naturally 
adapted  to  fill  the  places  which  they  (women) 
occupy ;  but  there  is  no  telling  what  one  person 
or  many  can  do,  but  by  trying.  No  one  knows, 
or  can  know,  how  great  an  influence  circum 
stances  have  in  modifying  character.  The  only 
method  of  deciding  this  question  is  to  place  man 
in  woman's  position  for  two  hundred  years,  and 
then  experience  will  teach  us  the  natural  posi 
tion  of  both  sexes.  Literary  men  are  becoming 
more  free  and  outspoken,  and  a  few  have  had 
the  courage  to  demand  freedom.  No  one 
knows  how  many  more  cherish  silently  similar 


256  ECCE  FEMINA. 

aspirations ;  nor  can  the  real  opinions  of  a  ma 
jority  of  men  be  known,  so  long  as  women,  who 
are  their  instructors,  strenuously  teach  them 
that  any  lack  of  reverence  or  homage  to  woman 
is  contrary  to  the  proprieties  of  their  sex.  Men 
will  get  their  eyes  open,  doubtless,  some  time ; 
but  we  must  not  become  discouraged,  as  it  must 
be  remembered  that  no  enslaved  class  ever 
asked  for  complete  liberty  at  once.  Men  have 
thus  far  been  made  to  believe  it  their  duty  to 
support  the  women ;  but  some  have  dared  al 
ready  to  defy  public  opinion :  and,  as  the  spirit 
of  the  age  seems  to  indicate  that  no  one  is  under 
any  obligation  to  those  around  him,  we  feel 
sure  that  this  reform  must  ultimately  prevail. 
If  marriage  continues,  it  must  be  conducted  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality.  Husband  and  wife 
can  perform  the  housework,  and  then  go  forth 
and  labor  together.  Of  course,  the  children 
will  have  a  right  to  take  care  of  themselves." 

We  do  not  profess  to  have  as  much  ingenuity 
as  John  Stuart  Mill ;  hence  the  reader  can  read 
ily  detect  fallacies  in  the  foregoing,  particularly 
as  it  appears  in  a  condensed  form.  If  Mill 
would  take  these  ideas  and  expand  them  into  a 
book,  and  be  careful  to  conceal  fallacies,  he 
would  doubtless  make  the  emancipation  of  man 
appear  as  just  and  reasonable  as  that  of  woman. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  257 

The  fault  of  the  Innovators  is  not  so  much 
that  they  have  made  statements  that  were  not 
wholly  or  partially  true,  as  that  they  have  prac 
tised  the  wickedest  kind  of  falsehood ;  viz., 
stating  only  a  half  or  a  fourth  of  the  whole 
truth,  and  discarding  the  rest.  We  can  take  a 
partial  view  of  society,  and  make  it  appear  that 
man  is  a  slave  to  woman,  and  not  make  a'  state 
ment  which  is  absolutely  false.  In  reality,  man 
is,  in  some  respects,  the  servant  of  woman, 
while,  in  others,  woman  is  the  servant  of  man. 
In  one  sphere,  man  is  king,  and  woman  subordi 
nate  ;  in  another,  woman  is  queen,  and  man  sub 
ordinate. 

Perhaps  some  may  think  that  a  few  of  our 
remarks  have  been  too  strong.  We  can  only 
say  that  it  has  been  our  intention  to  be  severe  as 
truth  ;  and,  if  we  have  not  been  able  to  stop  here, 
we  shall  probably  be  obliged  to  take  the  conse 
quences  of  our  folly.  The  Innovators  have 
such  a  variety  of  character,  that  it  is  a  difficult 
matter  to  do  them  all  justice.  Their  speeches 
and  writings  can  be  found  at  almost  any  point 
between  candor  and  madness,  so  that  some  may 
think  that  we  have  laid  too  much  stress  on  cer 
tain  matters,  and  not  enough  on  others.  ^  There 
is  chance  for  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  in  re 
gard  to  this. 
17 


258  ECCE  FEMINA. 

We  have  faith  enough  to  believe  that  this 
agitation  will  do  good  ;  but  we  think  that  it  will 
be  in  the  same  way  that  infidelity  benefits 
Christianity.  Believers  are  obliged  to  examine 
more  thoroughly  the  grounds  of  their  faith,  and 
by  this  means  they  are  led  to  a  better  apprecia 
tion  of  the  truth.  The  blessings  of  the  family 
relation  will  probably  be  more  fully  recognized 
after  the  existence  of  this  institution  has  been 
threatened  and  endangered.  The  people  will 
then  understand  more  clearly  the  fundamental 
principles  on  which  society  and  government  are 
and  should  be  based  :  hence  they  will  know  bet 
ter  how  to  remove  some  evils  and  prevent  oth 
ers.  We  trust  that  the  family  will  be  restored 
to  its  unity  and  integrity  in  all  respects,  and 
preserved  to  bless  and  sanctify  coming  genera 
tions. 


14  DAY  USE 

JiTURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  b<>ok  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
p  «„       A ?£    1  date  to  which  ^newed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


HAY15'69-]2M 


LOAM   DEFT. 


n  -AA  W 


2 


SL 


\     197192 


LD  21A-60m-3,'65 
(F2336slO)476B 


-     — — 
MAY  15  19 


General  Librar 
University  of  Calif 
Berkeley 


